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UK

Barry Adamson

Partner

England & Wales

020 3319 3700

barry.adamson@keystonelaw.co.uk

Barry is a private client lawyer with over 30 years’ experience. His practice focuses on advising high net worth individuals and their families how best to arrange their affairs to best protect and organise them for future generations. This often involves advice on tax planning, wills and trusts (including their planning, creation, administration and winding-up). Barry also deals with the administration of substantial estates, often with an international element.

Throughout his career Barry has acted for a wide range of clients including authors, farmers, entrepreneurs, actors, historians, musicians, fashion designers, magazine editors and theatre producers and in relation to a number of landed estates.

Barry is a registered Trust and Estate Practitioner being a member of the Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners (STEP). He has written articles for respected legal journals (including Private Client Business) and the national press.

Expertise

Barry specialises in drafting wills for both UK and non-UK-domiciled individuals, providing tax-efficient and tailored succession planning.

Experience

  • Preparing wills for both UK and non-UK resident/domiciled individuals involving private international law analysis and liaising with lawyers from different jurisdictions to ensure the wills are in correct form, validly executed and contain gifts that can be given effect.
  • Drafting wills dealing with intellectual/agricultural/business property (including a working port) and art collections.
  • Advising on tax planning aspects and use of trust arrangements in wills and preparing supplemental letters of wishes.
  • Drafting wills taking into account potential claims for reasonable financial provision under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.
  • Preparing wills for cohabiting couples including those in same sex relationships.
  • Drafting letters of wishes to be read supplemental to wills.
  • Advised executors in relation to cross-border estate administration devolved by two wills, one dealing exclusively with South African estate and the other dealing with the deceased’s worldwide estate outside South Africa (assets in UK, Isle of Man, Guernsey, South Africa, USA, and Australia)
  • Advised non UK-domiciled clients on ownership of UK properties, the grounds for possibly challenging wills and a possible proprietary estoppel claim.

Barry handles all aspects of estate administration, including complex UK and international estates, advising executors on probate, tax issues, asset distribution, and cross-border compliance requirements.

Experience

  • Administered multi-jurisdictional estates, (including those comprising assets in America, The Bahamas, Belgium, Canada, Argentina, Germany, Australia, South Africa, Monaco, Kenya, Italy, France, Spain, Channel Islands, Republic of Ireland, Portugal and The Netherlands, and including preparing applications to reseal foreign grant of representation in England & Wales.
  • Advised in relation to estates including intellectual/agricultural/business property (including a toll bridge).
  • Advised in relation to an estate that included a valuable art collection and the acceptance of an item with scientific and historical significance in lieu of the payment of inheritance tax.
  • Advised the widow of an intestate deceased individual with assets based in Germany, Scotland, and Spain. Advice was provided on domicile and analysis of the private international law rules to identify the applicable succession law including EU Succession Regulations.

Barry advises on inheritance tax planning and lifetime estate strategies, including asset protection, use of pension nominations, and life assurance policy trusts.

Experience

  • Advising on the inheritance and capital gains tax implications of lifetime gifting.
  • Dealing with the tax issues involved in estate and trust administration and liaising with foreign lawyers in relation to multi-jurisdictional matters.

Barry advises on the creation, administration, and winding up of trusts, including trustee appointments, powers, and duties.

Experience

  • Drafting trust deeds, letters of wishes, deeds of appointment and retirement of trustees and protectors, and deeds of appointment and indemnity on final distribution of trust funds; organised transfer of trust property including UK real property to beneficiaries and drafted Land Registry documents.
  • Advising trustees on their powers and duties and beneficiaries in connection with their entitlement.
  • Advised trustees of a will trust as to the advance of agricultural property to a beneficiary entitled in remainder. Work included drafting the deed of advancement, pre-emption rights agreement, Land Registry transfer and the deed changing trustees.
  • Advised trustees on the winding-up of a will trust, varied by a court order, that had been administered for almost 70 years. There were 7 family branches necessitating the collation of a family tree and extensive correspondence to clarify the entitlement to the share of the trust fund attributable to the final branch’s share

Barry provides expert advice on mental incapacity planning, including the preparation and registration of lasting powers of attorney, helping clients appoint trusted individuals to manage their affairs.

Experience

  • Drafting enduring and lasting powers of attorney and registering them with the Office of the Public Guardian.
  • Drafting supplemental letters of wishes.
  • Liaising with the Office of the Public Guardian on the wording to record suitable preferences and instructions for attorneys.
  • Advising attorneys on their powers and duties.

Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.

Recognition

Recognised by Chambers High Net Worth for Private Wealth Law 2021–2026

Recognised in Citywealth Leader’s List for 2025

Recognised by The Legal 500 for Personal Tax, Trusts and Probate 2019, 2022–2026

Recommended Tax and Trust Lawyer in The Spear’s 500 Tax Law Index 2020–2024

Member of the Society for Trust and Estates Practitioners (STEP)

“Barry Adamson is the best of private client: decades of experience and the sharp end of London tax and trusts. Barry Adamson is knowledgeable, approachable and great with clients.”

The Legal 500 2025

Barry qualified as a solicitor in 1989. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2019, he worked at the following firms:

  • Moore Blatch
  • Berkeley Law
  • Maclay Murray & Spens