High Net Worth Solicitors Cheshire
When you have significant wealth, the decisions you make during your lifetime can have a lasting impact on the people, businesses and causes you care about.
You may be thinking about protecting what you have built, planning for the future, preparing the next generation, or simply making sure your affairs are clear and orderly, without unnecessary complexity or unwanted attention.
High-net-worth legal advice brings structure to personal, family, property, business and financial arrangements that have become more detailed over time. For some high-net-worth individuals, the focus is personal planning that reflects their own priorities, values and long-term ambitions. For others, the picture is wider. Supporting a partner, providing for children, reviewing family trusts, planning after a business sale, safeguarding a family home or business, or reducing the scope for future misunderstandings can all shape the choices you make now.
Every day we change the lives of our Clients, Colleagues and Community through expert Legal and Financial solutions. We specialise in advising high-net-worth clients, offering bespoke legal and financial planning services that are tailored to protect and grow their wealth. Because Cullimore Dutton offers legal and financial advice under one roof, we can take a joined-up view of your circumstances. Where appropriate, we can also work alongside your accountant, investment adviser, business advisers or overseas lawyers, so you have a clearer route forward and fewer disconnected conversations.
If you would like to speak to our team, call us today or complete the form below and we will arrange an initial conversation.
What makes high-net-worth planning different?
As wealth becomes more complex, planning often depends less on one decision and more on how several decisions fit together. A change in one area can affect another:
- A business sale may change your inheritance tax position.
- A second marriage may prompt a review of your Will, trusts and property ownership.
- A pension nomination may not reflect your current family circumstances.
- Overseas assets may require advice in another jurisdiction.
- A family trust may need to be reviewed to check whether it still serves its original purpose.
High-net-worth planning also tends to involve more people and more moving parts. You may already have an accountant, financial adviser, investment manager, business adviser or overseas lawyer. Clear coordination can reduce repetition, avoid gaps, and help you make decisions with a fuller understanding of the legal and financial context.
How we help High Net Worth Individuals & Families
At Cullimore Dutton Solicitors, we understand the unique complexities and opportunities that come with managing wealth. Our team of legal and financial experts is dedicated to providing comprehensive support to high-net-worth individuals and their families. We offer a full suite of services designed to protect and grow your assets while ensuring the best outcomes for your entire family, across generations.
We provide bespoke solutions that address the needs of each family member, no matter their age or life stage. Our team works together seamlessly to provide a holistic service, guiding you and your family through life’s most significant decisions with care, discretion, and expertise.
Ensuring your wealth is passed on according to your wishes can be complex, particularly where there are family members to provide for, business interests, overseas assets, or charities you want to support. With careful planning, we can help you put clear arrangements in place that reflect your priorities and create a lasting legacy. We provide tailored advice on wills, trusts, and inheritance tax planning so that your assets can be protected and distributed efficiently, both during your lifetime and after death, where appropriate.
Our in-house financial advisers work closely with our legal team to offer bespoke investment strategies, tax advice, and pension planning to grow and manage high-net-worth retirement wealth. For many clients, this is about balancing lifestyle today with longer-term goals, whether that means building financial security, supporting children or grandchildren, or planning for retirement. Whether you are looking to diversify your investment portfolio, review existing structures, or create a joined-up plan alongside your estate arrangements, we offer solutions that align with your long-term objectives.
We understand that relationship and family matters can be sensitive, especially when significant wealth is involved. Our expert family law solicitors can assist with pre- and post-nuptial agreements, high-net-worth divorce settlements, and financial arrangements, with a focus on protecting your position and approaching discussions with care and discretion. Where children, family trusts, inherited wealth, or complex assets are involved, we can help you understand your options and reach arrangements that are fair and workable for everyone concerned.
From high-value residential purchases to managing a diverse property portfolio, our property law experts are here to help ensure that your assets are legally protected. We handle everything from acquisitions and sales to refinancing and portfolio management, taking care to reflect wider planning aims where needed. Whether the property is for you personally, held jointly, owned through a company or trust, or intended for family use across generations, we will work to make sure your interests are safeguarded at every step.
If you own an SME, your personal legal and financial decisions are often closely tied to the success of the business. Day-to-day demands can make it easy for personal planning to slip down the list, even when the stakes feel high for you and your family.
We provide legal support for SME business owners with dedicated, conflict-free advice focused on personal legal and financial planning. By not offering legal advice in relation to your company law matters, our guidance remains centred on your individual and family needs, with no risk of conflict with your business’s legal advisers.
Why Choose Cullimore Dutton?
At Cullimore Dutton, we bring legal and financial expertise together under one roof, so your planning can be handled in a coordinated way. That joined-up approach is particularly valuable when decisions overlap, for example when estate planning affects investment strategy, or when family arrangements and asset structures need to be considered side by side. It also means fewer moving parts for you, and clearer, more confident decision-making.
We work with high-net-worth individuals and families who value continuity and trusted relationships. Many clients come to us at a particular moment, such as a significant life event, a change in family circumstances, or a desire to put longer-term plans in place, and then stay with us as priorities evolve. Our heritage dates back to 1792, and that long-standing foundation supports a calm, careful approach focused on getting the detail right.
We understand how important discretion is when wealth and family dynamics are involved, and we handle your affairs with professionalism, integrity and care. You can expect clear communication in plain English and advice that is proportionate to your circumstances, whether you are making personal plans, supporting a wider family, or both.
No two clients are the same, and neither are their legal or financial needs. We take the time to understand what matters to you, then shape advice around your goals, values and the people you want to protect, now and in the future. More guidance, more clarity and more reassurance than you might expect from a standard service.
Who will work on your high net worth matter?
Your matter will be handled or supervised by a fully qualified lawyer, typically a solicitor with at least 10 years’ experience in this area of work. Some elements may be supported by our Paralegal team, with administrative duties undertaken by our support staff.
Phil Appleby, Legal Director in Cullimore Dutton’s High Net Worth services team, is one of our most experienced specialists.
Where appropriate, Phil will work collaboratively with clients and their other advisers, helping to bring clarity to the legal and practical issues involved. Phil has also been awarded the STEP Student of the Year award on two occasions while working towards his Post-Graduate Diploma in Trusts and Estates, reflecting his specialist focus in this area.
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High Net Worth Advice FAQs
High-net-worth legal advice helps you make clear, practical decisions where your personal, family and financial affairs are more detailed than usual. This may include estate planning, Wills, trusts, succession planning, property, family law, business-owner planning and coordination with financial advice. The exact work depends on your circumstances and what you want to achieve.
A Will is an important starting point, but it may not cover everything. If you have significant assets, business interests, pensions, trusts, overseas property, children from different relationships or wider family responsibilities, it is sensible to check that your Will works alongside the rest of your arrangements.
Yes. Cullimore Dutton offers legal and financial advice under one roof. This can be particularly useful where decisions overlap, such as estate planning, retirement planning, pension arrangements, investment considerations, inheritance tax planning and provision for family members.
Where appropriate, we can also work alongside your accountant, investment adviser or other existing advisers, rather than replacing relationships that are already working well.
Yes. We can advise business owners on personal legal and financial planning, particularly where business success has created family wealth, future inheritance questions, retirement planning needs or succession concerns. We do not need to replace your business’s existing advisers, and where appropriate, we can work alongside them.
Yes, where trusts are relevant to your planning. A trust is a legal arrangement where assets are managed by trustees for the benefit of chosen beneficiaries. Trusts can be useful in some circumstances, but they are not right for everyone, so we will explain their purpose, limitations and responsibilities before you make decisions.
Yes, where inheritance tax is relevant to your circumstances. We can help you understand how your estate may be structured, how your Will and lifetime planning fit together, and what options may be available. Tax outcomes depend on individual circumstances and the law at the time, so we will avoid giving broad assumptions without understanding the detail.
Yes. We can advise on high-value residential property and property portfolios, including purchases, sales and ownership considerations. Where property forms part of wider estate, family or financial planning, we can help you consider how those decisions fit together.
Yes, although the right approach will depend on the details. We can help you review your position and identify where English and Welsh legal advice is needed. If overseas assets or foreign law issues are involved, it may be necessary to involve advisers in the relevant jurisdiction.
Yes. We can advise on family law matters where significant assets are involved, including pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements, separation, divorce and financial arrangements. We approach these matters carefully and discreetly, with a focus on clear advice and practical next steps.
A review may be sensible after a major life event or financial change. Common triggers include marriage, divorce, remarriage, a new relationship, children reaching adulthood, the birth of grandchildren, a business sale, receiving an inheritance, acquiring overseas assets, buying or selling high-value property, a change in health, or a change in tax or family circumstances.
It is also sensible to review older Wills, trusts, pension nominations and financial plans to check they still reflect your wishes.
It helps to have a broad picture of your assets, family circumstances, existing legal documents and any immediate concerns. This might include Wills, trusts, business interests, property, pensions, investments and details of any existing advisers. If you do not have everything to hand, do not worry. We can start with what you know and build from there.
Contact Cullimore Dutton’s High Net Worth Solicitors today
Whether you are putting personal plans in place, thinking about how best to provide for your family, or reviewing arrangements that have become more complex over time, we will start by listening and helping you make sense of the next best step.
As a leading law firm in Cheshire, with a history dating back to 1792, we understand the value of careful, considered advice delivered with discretion. We know that high net worth matters often involve overlapping priorities, family dynamics and long-term planning, so we take the time to understand what matters most to you and explain your options in a way that is tailored to your preferences.
From our offices in Chester and Knutsford, we support high-net-worth individuals and families across the North West, offering legal advice for high-net-worth individuals in Wilmslow, Alderley Edge, Prestbury, Bowdon, Hale, and beyond. You can expect clear, practical advice in plain English, delivered with care, and with the benefit of joined-up legal and financial expertise under one roof.
Get in touch with our team. We will talk through what you want to achieve, outline the options available, and explain how our fees work, whether on a fixed fee or time served basis, alongside any third-party costs that may apply.