Natasha Hassall

Spear's Review

'A lot of them are still quite focused on primogeniture, which has worked very well for lots of families for this country,' says Natasha Hassall, partner at Boodle Hatfield who specialises in looking after families owning both rural and urban estates, when Spear's asked the lawyer about common themes in her work . 'But that comes with a lot of challenges as well, in terms of how you treat children fairly, what provision is made for the non-heirs, and what that all looks like?'

Although this has come under challenge by those seeking full equality,  she says the status quo is more likely to remain than not. 'I don't see many people who were keen on the idea of splitting everything equally, because they know that at the end of it, once you've got people pulling in different directions, you can't really hold it together,' she says. Besides estate planning, Hassall also has a specialism in tax advice in relation to art.