Sonia Dhesi

Senior associate

Sonia Dhesi

Senior associate

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+44 (0)1483 791829

Guildford

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Sonia is a senior associate in the private client team in Guildford. With over 15 years’ legal experience, she specialises in advising high-net-worth individuals and families on the complexities of estate and succession planning.

Her area of expertise is succession planning, which includes drafting tailored wills, trusts, and powers of attorney to reflect individual objectives and unique family circumstances. Sonia also advises on clients’ exposure to personal taxes and strategies to mitigate their impact, establishing and managing family trusts to safeguard assets for future generations. Another area of her expertise is estate administration – guiding personal representatives through the probate process and advising on all aspects of the administration of estates.

I enjoy working with families to create a tailored estate plan that gives them confidence for the future. My approach is to provide clear, comprehensive advice, balanced with empathy and pragmatism, to enable clients to make informed decisions throughout the different stages of their lives.

Sonia Dhesi, Senior associate

Sonia thrives on problem-solving and providing comprehensive legal solutions to protect and preserve wealth across generations. By fostering long-term relationships built on trust and clear communication, she aims to ensure that her clients feel supported at every stage. A full member of STEP, the world’s leading organization for private wealth professionals, Sonia has a particular interest in cross-border estates and holds an additional STEP qualification specific to their administration.

Recent work highlights

Succession planning

Preparing wills tailored to suit specific circumstances, to protect vulnerable beneficiaries and to mitigate inheritance tax to safeguard the family wealth for future generations.

Capital gains tax mitigation

Mitigating capital gains tax on the sale of property during the administration of an estate by appropriating shares between beneficiaries and their spouses prior to exchange of contracts.

Inheritance tax mitigation

Reducing inheritance tax in a large value estate by maximising agricultural and business property reliefs in respect of a family farming business and AIM investment portfolios.

Post-death variations and appointments

Redirecting assets in a tax-efficient manner post-death in conjunction with dealing with appointments out of will trusts to meet individual beneficiaries’ immediate and long-term needs.

Lifetime gifting

Investigating lifetime gifting patterns to claim gifts out of normal expenditure and the reduced rate of inheritance tax relief, where a proportion of the estate passes to charity.

Trusts

Advising on the termination of a charitable trust and a will trust that had fulfilled its original purpose and drafting the required legal documentation to implement the trustees’ strategy.

What people are saying

I would like to thank you for your hard work and pleasant way of writing my will and LPAs. Very friendly, professional and everything exactly as I wished it would be.

Client

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