Maria joined Bexley Beaumont in April 2023 having previously worked at JMW solicitors where she was a private client partner.

With over 13 years of experience Maria advises on all areas of estate planning and administration including Wills, trusts, tax, lasting powers of attorney, Court of Protection applications and post-death estate administration. Maria is STEP qualified, a full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, the gold standard for private client practitioners.

Maria welcomes instructions from a broad church – from those with more modest assets who wish to protect their capital down the generations (via Wills) to high net worth (and ultra net worth) individuals, entrepreneurs and business owners who will also have a drive to secure tax neutrality and succession dictating use of a mixture of Wills, trusts and perhaps more bespoke planning vehicles. Maria provides a tailored approach to each client and her background in contentious trusts and probate allows for a peek behind the curtain and provision of documentation which will be robust against challenge.

Maria develops longstanding relationships with her clients and often sees their planning through the probate process and any post death administration via trust for the longer term. She assists to successfully claim exemptions and reliefs from inheritance tax; assists to obtain probate (including estates with international elements) and advises on post death administration either for purposes of practicality or for further (duplicated) relief of qualifying assets for ultimate tax neutrality.

Maria specialises in trust law and regularly advises trustees and those wishing to incept trusts for: tax planning, vulnerable / disabled beneficiaries, those having received a personal injury award, capital protection and succession, pre-sale (business) planning, insurance and pension benefits.

Maria’s tenacity and drive to secure the best position for her clients is best exemplified by her success through the Court of Appeal in Lomax v Lomax [2019] EWCA Civ 1467 (advancing the position of both her client and setting precedent for civil litigation generally).