As we head towards the close of 2025, it is worth pausing to take stock of a year that has been significant for succession law, estate planning and will writing across the United Kingdom. This year’s developments have centred on evolving inheritance tax (IHT) rules, and Law Commission recommendations about the future direction of succession law. To reflect on an exciting year, we’ve picked out five key highlights of 2025.
1. Inheritance Tax and the 2025 Autumn Budget
The Autumn Budget 2025, delivered on 26 November, introduced some important changes that will impact estate planning.
Key points that will influence wills and estate planning include the continued freeze on the Nil-Rate Band (NRB) and Residence Nil-Rate Band (RNRB) until at least April 2031, effectively tightening IHT exposure as asset values rise with inflation. This fiscal drag effect means more estates will be pulled over the tax threshold without any change in nominal allowances, which has the practical result of increasing IHT liabilities over time.
Business Property Relief (BPR) and Agricultural Property Relief (APR) saw significant changes announces last year. Changes introduced in the 2024 Budget to cap 100% relief at £1 million for qualifying assets will take effect from April 2026. The 2025 Budget announced that this £1 million allowance will now be transferable between spouses and civil partners; a welcome change reducing some planning urgency on first death but also creating new considerations for estate planning for couples.
Reforms affecting pension death benefits also featured in the Budget. From April 2027, undrawn pension funds and death benefits will form part of the taxable estate for IHT purposes. The recent Budget announced that personal representatives of estates will be able to instruct pension scheme administrators to withhold up to 50% of taxable pension benefits for up to 15 months after death to cover potential IHT interest and costs. It also confirmed that once HMRC has issued a certificate of discharge, personal representatives will not be liable for any IHT on pension benefits that come to light after that clearance has been granted.
2. Inheritance Tax reforms for non-doms
2025 also saw the implementation of changes to the UK’s IHT treatment of non-domiciled individuals. Reforms effective from April 2025 mean the UK has moved to a residence-based system that will see IHT being charged on worldwide assets for individuals who have been UK resident in ten out of the last twenty tax years. It also sees individuals who have ceased being resident in the UK still being subjected to UK IHT for up to 10 years due to an IHT ‘tail’.
3. A step forward for digital assets
In an exciting development for digital assets, 2025 saw the passage of the Property (Digital Assets etc) Act 2025, which received Royal Assent in early December and for the first time formally recognises digital assets, including cryptocurrency, NFTs and similar digital holdings, as capable of being personal property under English law. Previously, these assets occupied an uncertain legal category that did not fit neatly into the two existing traditional categories of personal property, creating challenges for estate planners and executors alike.
The new Act clarifies that digital or electronic things are not prevented from being the object of personal property rights merely because they lack a physical form and gives courts the flexibility to develop the common law around this third category of asset. This statutory recognition addresses a long-standing grey area for wills and probate practitioners and reflects the increasing growth of digital wealth.
4. Law Commission Report: Modernising Succession Law
Perhaps the most talked-about development in succession law this year has been the publication of the Law Commission’s final report Modernising Wills Law in May 2025. The first comprehensive review of wills law in nearly two centuries. The report proposes a wide-ranging reform package to update the Wills Act 1837, accompanied by a draft bill for a new, modern Wills Act that would replace the antiquated Victorian framework with a more flexible and contemporary statutory regime.
Key proposals include permitting electronic wills subject to robust safeguards around identity, security and formalities, abolishing the automatic revocation of a will upon marriage or civil partnership to deter predatory marriage, and reducing the minimum age to make a will from 18 to 16 – with safeguards for younger testators in compelling circumstances. The report also recommends a single, modern capacity test based on the Mental Capacity Act 2005, replacing the dual-test approach currently in force with the common law Banks v Goodfellow test at the forefront, and by empowering courts to infer undue influence where reasonable suspicion exists.
Additional recommendations include giving judges a “dispensing power” to validate wills that clearly reflect the testator’s intentions despite minor formal defects, and clarifying the law on gifts to witnesses and related parties. Taken together, these proposals represent the most substantial rethink of wills law since 1837 and, if enacted, would have profound implications for will drafters. The Government has acknowledged the need for reform and published a response indicating it is considering the recommendations, but as of late 2025 no legislation has been brought forward.
Read more or see our series “A Look at Proposed Reforms to Wills Law” for more in-depth analysis.
5. Regulation of legal services in Scotland
In Scotland, 2025 also saw a significant change of the regulatory framework for legal services with the passage of the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2025, which received Royal Assent on 27 June 2025. The Act modernises the regulatory framework by establishing clearer standards and objectives for legal service provision, enhancing consumer protection, introducing new offences for unregulated practice, clarifying who may act as a provider of legal services and placing greater emphasis on transparency, accountability and competition in the sector.
For estate planners and will writers serving Scottish clients, the Act’s reforms have several practical implications. Most notably, the prior special provisions in the Legal Profession and Legal Aid (Scotland) Act 2007 relating to confirmation agents and will writers have been repealed, and a more unified complaints and regulatory regime now applies to those delivering legal services.
Final thoughts
Looking back, 2025 has been a busy and genuinely interesting year for succession law and will writing. From digital assets finally getting much needed clarity on their standing, to the Law Commission setting out a bold vision for modernising wills law, there has been plenty for practitioners to get to grips with this year. Now it’s time to look forward in preparation for what 2026 may bring!
