Jonathan Dorman

Partner and Head of Private Client

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