Jolyon Barton

Partner
Head of Inheritance Protection Team

Jolyon (Jo) is a Partner at Gardner Leader and Head of the Inheritance Protection team.

Jo advises on wills and estate planning and everything to do with trusts and estate administration. He also has experience in commercial and residential property matters, both in transactional work and in an estate and tax planning context. Jo qualified in 1981 and has previously worked for firms in London and Reading.

Inheritance Protection Experience

Jo advises on making Wills, Trusts and Lasting Powers of Attorney and how inheritance tax affects clients and ways in which this can be mitigated.

Jo also advises and assists executors and administrators with the administration of estates, completion of inheritance tax returns and applying any relevant IHT exemptions and reliefs, dealing with HMRC and obtaining Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration from the probate registry. Jo also advises and acts as a trustee of a number of trusts for clients.

In addition to Jo’s above expertise Jo also has experience and knowledge in property related estate planning.

Work Highlights

• Acting as executor and for executors of a number of estates comprising agricultural property including successful applications to HMRC for Agricultural Property Relief
• Acting as an executor and trustee appointed by will to manage a number of let commercial units
• Administration of an estate of a peer of the realm and arrangements with HMRC for designation of heritage property with associated undertakings
• Estate planning using a Discretionary Settlement to hold a share of a commercial property in London
• Advising executors on submission of normal expenditure out of income exemption claims to reduce liability for IHT

Legal Directories and Awards

• Jolyon was listed in the 2021 Legal 500 rankings as a Recommended Lawyer. He was noted as “very calm and reassuring, which is appreciated. He deals with the legal and emotional aspects exceptionally well.”

Memberships and Professional Bodies

• Member of Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners since 2000.
• Chairman of STEP Thames Valley branch 2012-2015.
• Jo is a trustee of the charities Age Concern/Fair Close (Newbury) and Friends of Young Carers (West Berkshire).

Jolyon Barton qualified in 1981.