News & Insights

Inheritance tax (IHT) is a tax paid on your death based on the value of what you own at the date of your death.

Rachel Roche, the award winning Yorkshire lawyer, believes the legal profession needs a change of mindset to fully embrace the opportunities offered by new technology and AI which is reshaping the way businesses operate.

Gary Lumby MBE, the former UK Director of Small Business Banking at Yorkshire and Clydesdale Banks, has been appointed chief executive officer at Roche Legal, the award winning Yorkshire private client law firm.

Rachel Roche, owner of York based Roche Legal, has collected a prestigious award which recognises her impact as a transformation leader at the BusinessDesk Yorkshire Leadership Awards in Leeds.

Rachel Roche, owner of York based Roche Legal and a former winner of the Law Society Sole Practitioner of the Year, has been shortlisted in the BusinessDesk Yorkshire Leadership Awards 2024 which are being staged at the Queens Hotel in Leeds on March 21st.

Lawyer Rachel Roche believes legal innovations being delivered in Yorkshire can help change perceptions about the London-centric view of the profession.

Rachel Roche, the award winning owner of York based Roche Legal, believes the most important New Year resolution families can make is to ensure they have made or updated their wills to help avoid lengthy probate delays that have triggered a House of Commons inquiry. 

Roche Legal’s expertise and innovation has been recognised by two prestigious legal and business awards.

We’re thrilled to announce that Grace Buckland, our client relationship coordinator, has been shortlisted for York Press’ Apprentice of the Year award. 

Rachel Roche, owner of Roche Legal, and Grace Buckland, who holds the newly created position of Client Relationship Coordinator with the York based solicitors, are  delighted to have been named as finalists in the 2023 York Press Business Awards.

The Roche Legal team are delighted to be shortlisted in the Niche Law Firm of the Year 2023 at the Yorkshire Legal Awards.

An historically important York building, which became the city’s first synagogue in 600 years, has been the subject of an unusual missing persons’ case which Claudia’s Law has helped to resolve.

Rachel Roche, owner of Roche Legal, was thrilled to be shortlisted in two categories for prestigious  Modern Law Private Client Awards 2023 in recognition of her ground breaking and innovative work.

Rachel Roche, the award winning  owner of York/Yorkshire based Roche Legal, has been appointed vice chair of the London chapter of the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA), recognising her position as key figure in international cross border legal work.

At Roche Legal, we believe that everyone should have a right to dignity, whatever stage of life they’re at, and whatever support or care they may require. This is something that we work hard to uphold ourselves, especially when working with individuals from more vulnerable groups. 

York solicitor Lynsey Bashforth believes making a Will is being pushed onto the “back burner” despite the Covid-19 pandemic focussing attention on the pressing need for future planning as figures show 57% of people in the UK still do not have a Will.

Roche Legal, the multi-award winning York solicitors, are backing a campaign aimed at tackling the more than 30 million people in the UK who do not have a Will and to ensure those who have made one regularly update the contents.

Rachel Roche, the award winning York solicitor, is jointly chairing a panel at the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) Global Conference in London today (Nov 30) after launching her ground breaking service to solve probate problems for American clients which has attracted Government funding.

York based Rachel Roche has written a Law Society backed book to help solicitors set up their own practices at one of the most challenging times for the legal profession.

Local solicitor Rachel Roche believes Kate Garraway’s harrowing story of her husband’s battle with COVID-19 has highlighted a significant legal problem for families dealing with serious illness.

Clio, one of the World leaders in cloud-based legal technology, have recognised the ground breaking work of York solicitor Rachel Roche with the 2020 Reisman Award for Legal Innovation.

Julian Sturdy, the MP for York Outer, is backing a campaign by York based solicitor Rachel Roche to “bring peace of mind” by introducing relaxed rules to allow Wills to be witnessed online as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rachel Roche, the award winning Yorkshire based solicitor, is backing Government moves to change the way wills are drawn up in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic which has seen a 30 per cent increase in requests for help.

Rachel Roche, founder of multi-award-winning Roche Legal, has joined World Cup winner Sir Geoff Hurst to explain how leadership has helped their very different careers.

Multi-award-winning Roche Legal has been recognised as an “employer partner” by STEP, the global professional association for practitioners who specialise in family inheritance and succession planning.

Rachel Roche, the founder of multi-award winning Roche Legal, has signed a deal with the Law Society to write a guide to setting up a new firm at a time of dramatic change in the legal profession.

York solicitor Rachel Roche today hailed news of the Government’s decision to scrap planned increases in probate fees as a “victory for common sense.”

York based Roche Legal has won the prestigious Private Client Award at the Yorkshire Legal Awards, announced at a glittering ceremony in Leeds last night.

Roche Legal are celebrating being shortlisted in the Press Business Awards for the second year running.

York based Roche Legal has been shortlisted in the prestigious Law Society Excellence Awards 2019,  the highest accolade for law firms in England and Wales.

York MP Julian Sturdy has thrown his support behind local solicitor Rachel Roche who is campaigning to highlight planned increases in probate fees turning them a “ tax on grief”.

York based Roche Legal has been shortlisted by the Yorkshire Legal Awards in the Private Client category of the prestigious awards to be announced at a glittering ceremony at New Dock Hall, Leeds on 10 October, 2019.

York solicitor Rachel Roche is warning bereaved families they could face delays of up two months to sort out financial issues due to a backlog created by a new online probate service.

North Yorkshire MPs  Julian Sturdy and Kevin Hollinrake are supporting local solicitor Rachel Roche’s attempt to highlight serious concerns over the Government’s decision to increase probate fees to create what has been described as a “tax on grieving families.”

Karl Lagerfeld is not alone in wanting to leave his cat a financial windfall after his death with Britain’s pet lovers also choosing their animals over close family.

York based Roche Legal are celebrating a remarkable hat-trick of award wins after receiving the Raising the Bar Community Award at the Leeds Civic Hall last night (Tuesday 27th November).

This has been a remarkable year for the team at Roche Legal with two prestigious awards now taking pride of place in our York office. We were over the moon to be named the Socially Responsible Business of the Year at the recent annual Press Business Awards which followed on from the Law Society Sole Practitioner of the Year award we received in London.

Rachel Roche, of York based Roche Legal, is celebrating winning one the highest accolades for lawyers in England and Wales at the Law Society’s prestigious Excellence Awards.

Rachel Roche and the team at Roche Legal are celebrating another significant achievement after being shortlisted in the Niche Law Firm of the Year category of the Yorkshire Legal Awards 2018.

Rachel Roche, of York based Roche Legal, has been shortlisted for the Law Society’s prestigious Excellence Awards, the highest accolade for lawyers in England and Wales.

A new report has revealed that 77% of adults in Yorkshire and the Humber are worried about dementia and losing the ability to make important decisions for themselves in later life.

Our own Rachel Roche sits down with Andrew Gray from Truth Legal to discuss Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney, the Court of Protection, and many other bits and pieces about planning for the future.

York solicitor Rachel Roche has launched a cutting-edge online Will writing service to help address the estimated 40 million people in Britain who do not have a Will.

Roche Legal has joined with the Yorkshire Ambulance Service (“YAS”) to work on a project to help York be more “heart safe”.

Haroon Qayum has joined the award winning Roche Legal team and will be adding his succession planning expertise to the York based solicitors while also embarking on an 18 month international Executive MBA dual award programme at the Durham University Business School and the EBS Universität in Germany.

Many legal processes – whether that’s administering someone’s estate after their death, applying to act as someone’s power of attorney or taking legal action in a contentious case – can involve putting in applications to government bodies.

Many people don’t know very much about the process of winding up an estate until someone they know dies and they find themselves responsible for carrying out the process themselves. 

There are all kinds of factors to consider when you take on the task of winding up an estate. If the person who has died owned a business, you will need to take extra steps to ensure the additional legal obligations this entails have been met.

The process of winding up an estate can become particularly complicated if it encompasses assets in more than one country. This might be the case if the person who has died resided, owned property or had business interests overseas. 

Most people are aware of inheritance tax and the added complications it can bring to the process of administering an estate. This type of tax does not need to be paid on all estates, just those that are worth over a certain threshold.

Family relationships are not always straightforward. This can be because of a huge range of reasons, from blended families to personality clashes to perceived injustices. Whatever the individual circumstances, sometimes, even small tensions can become magnified when it comes to the issue of what will happen to an estate after a death.

When someone one goes missing, it’s undoubtedly very difficult for the loved ones they leave behind. In the majority of cases, missing people are found in a matter of days or weeks. However, sometimes families can be waiting much longer for news.

The process of administering an estate can involve a great deal of paperwork and legal documents. If the person who has died had assets overseas, this is likely to be even more the case.

Administering an estate and navigating the probate application process is a big, complicated job that often involves a lot more work than expected. Not only are there a whole range of forms, payments and deadlines to keep on top of, there can also be a lot of conflicting advice to weigh up.

The term ‘probate’ is often used to refer to the period of winding up someone’s estate after their death. However, ‘probate’ can more specifically mean a document issued by the Probate Office.

Whether you’ve been named as an executor or an administrator, acting as a personal representative for an estate is a big responsibility and isn’t something that should be taken lightly.

Probate is a topic that people often don’t like to think too much about. It can conjure up images of Dickensian courtrooms and complicated Will readings, though the reality tends to be very different. 

There are all sorts of reasons why the loved ones of a missing person might decide the time is right to apply for a certificate of presumed death. In addition to offering a kind of closure, which may be much-needed, a certificate of presumed death will also allow loved ones to move forward with the next legal steps, including administering the missing person’s estate.

Many people find it helpful to take someone with them when they visit a solicitor, especially if it’s their first time doing so. Whether you’ve made an appointment to discuss a Will, a power of attorney, a probate situation or even a dispute, having a close friend or family member nearby can provide helpful moral support. 

It often makes sense for couples to look at making important legal documents such as wills or powers of attorney together. This is especially likely to be the case if the couple in question share children, own property together, or wish to appoint each other as legal representatives or beneficiaries. Choosing and meeting a specialist solicitor together is often the most time and energy efficient solution.

Sadly it is not uncommon for families to have disagreements after losing a loved one. The bereavement period is naturally a very stressful time when emotions are running high. Disappointments or misunderstandings about wills or trusts can escalate quickly.

Even if you’ve never been involved in a legal dispute before, you’re probably aware that the process can be expensive. This is just as true for cases involving wills as it is for other types of court case. 

Losing a loved one is undoubtedly a very stressful experience. In some cases, this stress can unfortunately be magnified as a result of disagreements between family members.

The Court of Protection handles decisions on financial and welfare matters for individuals who are not considered legally capable of making those decisions for themselves.

One of the roles of the Court of Protection is to consider cases where decisions need to be made on behalf of individuals who do not have the mental capacity to do so themselves.

Most people know what a Will is and why they might need one, but you may not be as familiar with Powers of Attorney documents, also known as POAs. You may also hear of this type of document being referred to as an LPA, which is an abbreviation of Lasting Power of Attorney, a particular type of POA.

Powers of Attorney are a type of legal document that allow an individual to nominate one or more people to make decisions on their behalf should they be unable to do so. The person who makes a power of attorney document is called a donor. The person who is appointed to act on the donor’s behalf is called an attorney.

Life has a habit of changing dramatically when we least expect it. The further in advance we plan for something, the greater the potential for life to upset those plans.