Amjed Zaman is a Personal Law Partner, based in our Bradford office, and has over 15 years’ experience in the legal sector.
Amjed has recently been awarded the STEP (Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners) Advanced Certificate Diploma in Cross-Border Estates.
Amjed has acted for clients in many jurisdictions of different religious and ethnic backgrounds, in relation to succession and tax planning for either UK clients who have assets overseas, or overseas clients with assets in the UK.
He can draft UK Wills covering a person’s worldwide assets, or where appropriate he can draft foreign Wills, to cover his client’s assets overseas – ensuring his clients are aware of how succession and tax rules in multiple jurisdictions interact with each other.
He is also able to provide an analysis of domicile for inheritance tax purposes (which can be used in dealings with HMRC) as well as advising clients about, and preparing powers of attorney including foreign jurisdictions.
In particular, Amjed is also able to provide Sharia compliant advice and Wills.
Amjed Zaman is an Affiliate Member of the Society of Trusts and Estates Practitioners (STEP), a Member of the STEP Cross Border Special Interest Group and a Full Accredited Associate Member of the Solicitors for the Elderly (SFE).
Recent cases in which Amjed has been involved:
- Advised on multi-million pound cross-border estates and the preparation of Wills to cover UK assets for family members across two generations. This involved advising on inheritance tax relating to a wealth of assets across five jurisdictions and drafting bespoke Wills to suit the unique needs of the family.
- Obtained Letters of Administration (LoA) for a client whose daughter had died intestate. The client was in disagreement with his ex-wife regarding the funeral and Amjed acted quickly to lodge the application at Court. As further complexities arose, he worked with our Contentious Probate team to take matters forward, resulting in the LoA being issued to his client.
- Assisted with administering the estate of a parent who had made a Will solely benefitting one of their daughters. The daughters, who were estranged, had agreed that the Will was invalid based on incapacity and that the residuary estate should be split equally between them. Amjed and Contentious Probate Partner Ragan Montgomery prepared a complex S116 application, which resulted in the LoA being issued successfully.
- Acted on behalf of the executor’s late parents' estates where the executor’s late mother had moved from the Czech Republic to the UK, where she married a Yorkshireman, thereby obtaining the domicile of dependency of England and Wales, before relocating back to the Czech Republic where she and her husband both passed away. The family approached Amjed to obtain the Grant of Probate confirming the deceased’s domicile as the Czech Republic as opposed to England and Wales, saving the family approximately £180,000 in inheritance tax as the foreign assets were excluded from the estate.
- Advised the deceased and subsequently her executors - included drafting of her will which included the likely devolution of the deceased’s assets in England and Croatia following her death, including the devolution under foreign ‘forced heirship’ rules. Later administering her estate which included liaising with a Croatian lawyer who was needed to provide a Notarised Official Statement and Limited Power of Attorney.
- Advising executors of a deceased who left his estate to his goddaughter in the UK and relatives in Latvia and Germany. Due to the cross jurisdictional nature of the estate it was necessary to instruct an agent to trace the relatives, some of whom had predeceased one of the residuary beneficiaries. It was then necessary to locate their children which resulted in us uncovering three beneficiaries, all of whom were resident in Latvia and Germany; none of whom were English speakers which complicated the distribution of the estate
- Acting in the administration of an estate of a deceased who died in 2015 without a Will. It was necessary to instruct an agent to trace his relatives and upon doing so over thirty three beneficiaries were discovered across eight strands of the family tree, who resided in Canada and Australia. Further difficulties arose when the elderly personal representative died which required an application for a Grant de-bonis-non.
Amjed’s clients appreciate his skill, care and ease of communications throughout what can be very difficult and challenging times.
“If ever I am in difficulty in the future I know to whom I can turn.”
Outside of work, Amjed is a qualified Group Fitness Instructor teaching Les Mills Body Attack classes which keeps his own fitness levels up, albeit it is often to counteract his love for chocolate.