Melissa advises individuals and families on will writing and estate planning, including advising on their tax exposure and available trust mechanisms. She also deals with estate administration, guiding executors and trustees through carrying out the terms of a will (or following the intestacy rules), preparing tax returns and drafting ancillary documents, including in relation to associated trusts. 

Melissa assists with Court of Protection applications, including the preparation of Lasting Powers of Attorney and deputyship applications. 

Melissa acts for clients from a range of backgrounds, such as corporate business owners through to the elderly. She can deal with a variety of complexities, from foreign assets and domicile considerations through to capacity concerns.

Melissa takes a calm and measured approach and aims to minimise stress for executors, trustees and wider family members at times that are often already difficult enough to deal with. She is able to consider the big picture and help her clients navigate through legal processes in a pragmatic and realistic way in order to provide a conclusion to matters and offer peace of mind.

• Dealt with multi-jurisdictional estates involving significant foreign assets
• Acted for high net worth clients and handled matters involving multi-million pound implications/assets
• Led or assisted on a wide variety of cases at a leading Thames Valley regional firm, meaning she can identify and tackle issues early on

• Read Law at Royal Holloway University of London, gaining a first class honours degree
• Awarded a faculty prize for intellectual and academic distinction within her multi-department faculty
• Achieved a distinction in the LPC undertaken at the University of Law, Guildford, along with gaining an accompanying Masters in Business Law