50+ Years’ combined experience
Will Writing & Estate Planning Specialists
Trusted by families across our local communities for clear, personal guidance on Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney and trusts.
Book your free consultation“Clear, patient and professional. They made our wills genuinely simple.”
“Inheritance tax finally explained in plain English. Real peace of mind.”
“Kind, thorough help with my mother’s lasting power of attorney.”
“Sound advice on protecting our family home. Highly recommended.”
Wills
Powers of Attorney
Trust Planning
Inheritance Tax Planning
Long-Term Care
Business Succession
Protecting Business Assets
Children's Inheritance
You’ve Built a Life.
Make Sure It’s Protected.
Creating a Will and putting a comprehensive Estate Plan in place is one of the most important steps you can take to protect your family and everything you’ve worked hard to build.
From Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney to Trusts and Inheritance Tax Planning, effective estate planning helps ensure your wishes are followed, your assets are protected and your wealth is passed on to the people who matter most.
Our Estate Planning Services
You can visit us at our offices, or we can come to you in the comfort of your own home, across South Wales, West Wales, Hampshire and Dorset, and Wiltshire and Somerset. We also offer video consultations for those who prefer to meet remotely.
Our services
Wills
A professionally drafted will is the foundation of every estate plan, making sure your wishes are followed and the people you care about are provided for.
Learn morePowers of Attorney
A Lasting Power of Attorney gives someone you trust the legal authority to manage your affairs if illness or injury ever leaves you unable to do so yourself.
Learn moreInheritance Tax Planning
Inheritance tax at 40% can take a significant slice of the estate you leave behind. Early planning helps pass more of your wealth to your family.
Learn moreWhere does your estate stand today?
If your arrangements are missing, out of date or incomplete, the law in England and Wales decides what happens instead. That can mean decisions about who inherits, who looks after your children and who can act for you are taken out of your family’s hands.
Our free Legacy Snapshot shows where you stand today, where the gaps are, and what PJH Estate Planning would recommend to put them right.
Your free Legacy Snapshot
See exactly what would happen to your estate and your family…
- If there’s no Will
- To an unmarried partner
- If you marry or divorce
- To children under 18
- If you’re unable to act
The price of putting it off
Estate planning is easy to push to “next year”, until the deadlines, rule changes and missed allowances land on the people you leave behind. These are the numbers families tell us they wish they’d known sooner.
The clock starts
straight away
Inheritance Tax is due by the end of the sixth month after death, often before probate is granted and the estate can be sold. Miss it and HMRC starts charging interest.
An extra allowance that’s easy to lose
The residence nil-rate band can add up to £175,000 per person, but only if your home passes to children or grandchildren. It also tapers away on larger estates.
Pensions are no longer off-limits
From April 2027, most unused pension pots will count towards your estate for Inheritance Tax. Plans built around the old rules may now leave far more exposed.
Allowances you can’t get back
You can give away £3,000 a year free of Inheritance Tax, but unused allowance only carries forward one year. Every year you wait is an exemption gone for good.
Confirmed after the 28 October 2026 Budget
Your pension is about to become part of your estate.
From 6 April 2027, most unused pension funds and death benefits will be counted in your estate for Inheritance Tax. A pension that once passed on tax-free could face a 40% charge, and in some cases income tax on top. The rules change once, so your plans should be reviewed before they do.
Until pensions fall into your estate
What counts for Inheritance Tax
- Your home & other property Taxed
- Savings & investments Taxed
- Personal possessionsCars, jewellery, art & contents Taxed
- Life insuranceIf not written in trust Taxed
- Your pension Outside Taxed
Today, an unused pension usually passes to your family free of Inheritance Tax. From April 2027, it’s added to your estate and can be taxed at 40%.
What it means for you
- Your tax-free allowance gets used up faster. From April 2027, pensions will count towards the £325,000 tax-free allowance, and could take larger estates past £2m, where the residence nil rate band starts to reduce.
- Your executors deal with it. The people handling your estate report and pay the tax due on your pension, normally within six months of the end of the month of death. They can ask the pension scheme to pay it straight to HMRC.
- Some gifts stay tax-free. Pensions left to a spouse, civil partner or charity are still exempt, and death-in-service benefits stay outside Inheritance Tax. Leave at least 10% of your net estate to charity and the rate on the rest can drop to 36%.
Example: a £400,000 pension
Left to children, after death at 75 or over.
- Inheritance Tax (40%)£160,000
- Income tax (40% rate)£96,000
- Your family keeps£144,000
Assumes the tax-free allowances are already used by the rest of the estate, and the children draw the money gradually so it’s taxed at 40% (one large lump sum could be taxed at 45%). If death is before 75, beneficiaries usually pay no income tax, and the 28 October 2026 Budget announced that the two-year time limit for this will be removed. Illustrative only.
-
40%
Inheritance Tax
rate -
£325k
Tax-free
allowance -
67%
Combined tax
after 75*
How is the 67% worked out?
- Inheritance Tax at 40%−£40
- Left after Inheritance Tax£60
- Income tax at 45% on the £60−£27
- Your family keeps£33 of every £100
This applies in England and Wales when death is at 75 or over, the pension is above the tax-free allowances, and the person inheriting pays the 45% additional rate. Income tax is charged only on what’s left after Inheritance Tax.
Basic-rate taxpayers would pay 52% in total, and higher-rate taxpayers 64%. Estates over £2m can pay more. Based on HMRC rules for deaths from 6 April 2027.
