Camilla Bishop

Practice Areas

Camilla is an experienced lawyer who specialises in all aspects of estate planning with a particular focus on Inheritance Tax. As an expert in will drafting and the use of trusts along with trust administration, she provides practical tax-efficient solutions and deals with everything from everyday family needs to the very complex.

Camilla is experienced in estate administration and probate, advising on reliefs and exemptions (including Business Relief and Agricultural Relief) and post-death planning using deeds of variation.

Camilla’s expertise also extends to assisting elderly and vulnerable clients with lasting powers of attorney, deputyship applications and other Court of Protection matters.

Career

Camilla qualified as a solicitor in 2010. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2021, she worked at the following firms:

DMH Stallard

Irwin Mitchell

Thomas Eggar

Professional Memberships

Camilla is a full member of the Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners (STEP) and is on the committee of STEP Sussex.

Experience

Acted for a husband and wife exiting a business by creating multiple family trusts and a family investment company to receive a significant share of the £6m proceeds of their business sale.

Acted for an ultra-high-net-worth entrepreneurial couple in relation to ‘asset protection’ wills and the creation of a family trust.

Advised and implemented a ‘gift with leaseback’ arrangement on a £3m family home to mitigate IHT.

Maximised the claim for Business Relief and Agricultural Relief in relation to a £4m farming probate and also making a claim for Quick Succession Relief.

In relation to the death estate of a high-profile politician, successfully demonstrated to HMRC that a lifetime gift of 50% of her property made to her son qualified as a ‘shared occupancy gift’ and was not caught by the ‘reservation of benefit’ rules.

By a deed of variation, introduced a Business Trust to capture Business Relief on £7m of business assets sold shortly after first death. The variation potentially saved 40% IHT.

Acted for an attorney in a successful application to the Court of Protection to make IHT mitigating gifts.