Russell Cooke Putney London 2

About Richard

Estate planning across national borders is extremely complicated. It is only if you really understand all the issues that you can begin to make it simpler.

Richard advises clients in relation to their estate planning, wills, probate and tax planning issues and offers Notary Public services. Areas of expertise include cross-border estates and international private law issues.

He joined Russell-Cooke in 1977, qualified as a solicitor in 1979, became a partner in 1982 and qualified as a Notary Public in 1995. In 2018 he became a consultant.

Richard has given evidence to both the House of Lords EU Sub-Committee on the EU Succession Regulation and to the EU Parliament Legal Affairs Committee JURI on various cross-border matters including the EU Succession Regulation and Cross-Border capacity issues under the 2000 Hague Convention 35.

He has also been involved in many complex and difficult cases. Those in the public domain include Re P [2009] 2 All E.R. 1198 relating to statutory wills after the changes under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and more recently private international law issues for one of the parties to High Commissioner for Pakistan v Nat West Bank and others [2015] EWHC 55 (Ch).

He is the leading academic on cross-border EU law and so on - he is second-to-none on international knowledge.
Chambers HNW (2022)

Memberships

A member of various professional bodies including:

  • the European Law Institute
  • the European Association of Private International Law
  • the Law Society’s EU Committee
He knows everything about EU cross-border succession.
Chambers HNW (2021)

Publications

Author of:

  • Law Brief Publishing’s 'The EU Succession Regulation'

Co-author of:

  • Sweet & Maxwell's 'European Cross-Border Estate Planning'
  • international sections of Heywood & Massey
  • commentary on the EU Succession Regulation published by Sellier and Dalloz in English, French and German
  • STEP badged text published by Oxford University Press on cross-border incapacity issues entitled 'The International Protection of Adults'
Richard Frimston is outstanding in cross-border matters especially when matters have civil law elements. He has recently published a book on the Succession Regulation which is required reading for everyone in the field.
The Legal 500 (2022)

Awards and accreditations

Richard's highlights

News

21.07.2025

Global Mobility of Ultra-High-Net-Worth Individuals (2nd edition)—STEP

Private client partner Andrew Godfrey and consultant Richard Frimston have co-authored a chapter in the newly published Global Mobility...
Andrew Godfrey, Partner in the Russell-Cooke Solicitors, private client team. Richard Frimston, Consultant in the Russell-Cooke Solicitors, private client team.
Multiple Authors
1 min Read
Andrew Godfrey, Richard Frimston
News

18.12.2024

PIL and statutory wills—STEP Journal Trust Quarterly Review

Consultant Richard Frimston has written an article in the Trust Quarterly Review from STEP Journal, published in December, exploring the complex interplay of...
Richard Frimston, Consultant in the Russell-Cooke Solicitors, private client team.
Richard Frimston
1 min Read

One will to rule them all? Richard Frimston speaks at STEP event

View all News & Insights