Head of Private Client
As Head of the Private Client team, I specialise in matters involving high-net-worth individuals, including Wills, Probate and Trusts. In addition, I undertake the role of Senior Responsible Officer for the Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme.
Experience
I joined Harold Benjamin in November 1992 and became a Partner in December 1996. Prior to Harold Benjamin, I was a Partner in the Westminster firm, Philip Conway Thomas.
My main areas of experience are as follows:
- Wills - including complex arrangements for multi-jurisdictional assets, second marriages, inheritance tax mitigation, asset protection, provision for beneficiaries suffering from disabilities, charitable beneficiaries
- Estate administration - including when there is a Will when there is no Will, high value estates, estates including foreign assets and interests in trusts
- Deed of Variation to Wills - allocate interests in estates post death
- Trust creation - both lifetime and in Wills
- Powers of Attorney - including advising Donors and Attorneys, Lasting Powers of Attorney creation and registration of Enduring Powers of Attorney
- Estate Planning - to reduce the incidence of inheritance tax
- Asset Protection - to safeguard assets and skip generations
Recent/Current Cases
- Administration of estate - with interest in other estate
- Dealing with an estate with a manuscript Will written by the deceased when the wording was ambiguous
- An estate where the charity had ceased to exist prior to the deceased's death and the deceased's intention was uncertain in regard to another beneficiary
- Estate where a life interest trust terminated on the death of the deceased
- Estate when a Settled Land Act Trust terminates on the death of the deceased
- Will prepared for use in several legal jurisdictions for non-domiciled person (liaising with overseas lawyers)
Education and Qualifications
- LLB, London School of Economics and Political Science
- LLM, London School of Economics (including papers on Estate Planning and personal taxation)
- Jonathan Dorman qualified as a Solicitor in 1983.
Memberships and Recognition
- Member of the Law Society of England and Wales
- Member of STEP - Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners (since 1994)
- Member of Solicitors for the Elderly (since 2002)
- Member of the Law Society Private Client Section (former executive committee member)
- Member of the Law Society Property Section
- Associate Member of the Institute of Legacy Management
- Member of the Jewish Historical Society of England
Life Outside the Law
Children and grandchildren take up a lot of any available spare time and when possible, reading, history and art.
Contact Details
Direct Dial: 020 8872 3008
Email: jonathan.dorman@haroldbenjamin.com
