Neil Acheson-Gray is a consultant solicitor and part of the private client department. He has specialised in matters including contentious probate for more than three decades.
He trained at a leading firm in Holborn, qualifying as a solicitor in 1983 and then spent 25 years as a partner in the family firm with offices in Marble Arch and Richmond. This gave him a wealth of experience in estate planning, Wills, estates and trusts and carrying out the role of Executor and Trustee.
Neil has subsequently spent 6 years with a firm in Fetter Lane where he successfully developed the firm’s contentious probate capability, bringing his wealth of experience of private client work to the cut and thrust of claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family & Dependents) Act 1975 and contested Wills.
Notable cases:
- Acting for the family of an elderly lady seeking to prove the validity of an allegedly forged or fraudulent Will in her favour
- Acting for several children of a lady whose other daughter was alleged to have forged her mother’s Will
- Acting for a widow whose stepchildren were claiming provision from his estate
- Acting for a widow whose own son inherited all her late husband’s estate
- Representing a child whose siblings were seeking her removal as Executor
- Acting for the beneficiary of an estate in the removal of one of the Executors
- Acting for the surviving partner of the man she lived with who remained married to his wife and left his entire estate to her and he children
- Acting for a surviving husband in relation to a claim made by a friend he had allegedly maintained
- Opposing a Will made by someone who took her own life whilst suffering from serious mental illness
- Advising a daughter whose stepmother left her share in a family property to her nephew contrary to her late husband’s wishes
Alongside this, Neil has continued his established practice in the field of Wills and Probate, dealing with a variety of interesting estates and meeting a wide range of clients from all walks of life, with estates large and small, complex and straightforward.
Neil is married and lives in Surrey. Outside of work he enjoys all forms of sport, travel, cookery, photography and the arts. His greatest inspiration and his greatest critics are his wife, three children and above all his grandson who together provide all the distraction needed from an absorbing and rewarding career which he is pleased to continue at Carter Lemon Camerons LLP.
Neil will shortly turn 70 which is an age when solicitors start to wind down and he is no exception. Neil will remain active working from home dealing with his clients and introducing them gradually to his successors. Neil has a wealth of experience in probate work, both contentious and non-contentious, and enjoys nothing better than advising clients about Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney.
