Helen deals with executors and trustees on a range of estates and in particular, high value estates including estates with a foreign element, business and agricultural assets. She acts for a wide variety of personal representatives and beneficiaries of estates. This often involves complex issues, liaising with HMRC regarding inheritance tax as well as dealing with property overseas . Helen also deals with estates for charities, and intestacy cases when someone dies without a valid will. She has helped families trace beneficiaries, sometimes all around the world.
Helen qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Legal Executives in 2006. She is a member of the Law Society’s Private Client Section and a member of the Society of Trust and Estates Practitioners (STEP), completing the STEP Advanced Certificate in International Succession and Probate with a distinction.
Helen’s clients value her sensitive and professional manner, listening to their concerns and showing care and empathy. Helen also ensures that her clients receive practical support at a difficult time; in addition to dealing with the paperwork following a death she can also assist with the practical matters which may include dealing with funeral arrangements, the clearance and disposal of the deceased’s effects and re-homing pets. For all clients Helen aims to make the process run as smoothly as possible.
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2006Qualified
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- Estate administration
- Inheritance tax
- Intestacy cases
‘Helen Gowin showed empathy yet retained professionalism. She was systematic in her approach yet flexible to accommodate our queries. Genuinely interested in our family.’
‘Helen Gowin is a friendly, caring person, as well as clearly very professional and meticulous in procedure and detail. She always seemed to be readily available when I needed to contact her which is a not a trivial thing.’
‘Thank you for all your help with the inheritance tax bills over the past few years. From start to end of the process you have made the whole thing very clear and easy to understand. Having you as point of contact has taken so much of the sting and hassle out of the yearly bills.’
‘Now that my mother’s estate has been finalised I would like to thank you so much for all the work you have done. You made it so much easier for me to understand the complexities and I appreciate very much that there were no death duties to pay, undoubtedly due to your skill and understanding of the law.’
‘As we now at the conclusion of just over 2 years of your assistance, I want to place on record our gratitude for your input with Mum and Dad’s estates. I don’t think that this has been an easy time for our family and certainly we had no idea what would be involved in processing things in the lead up to the distributions. Thank you for guiding us through the process and your timely advice.’
Helen studied French at Sheffield University and spent a year teaching in France before taking up a post-graduate diploma in foreign languages in Bristol. She is a keen runner with Macclesfield Harriers and regularly takes part in competitive races of all types. She is also a football fan, supporting Manchester City.