Estate Planning and Wealth Protection

There are many issues that are involved with estate planning. Our specialist solicitors can help you consider your options and navigate through the pitfalls that can arise when planning what to do with your assets – from the practicalities of doing so, through to tax implications of your preferred choices. Often associated with Wealth Protection and discussed when considering Wills, estate planning can involve:

• Setting up Trusts
• Gifts to children (or others)
• Transfers of assets to existing Trusts
• Inter-spouse Transfers of Assets
• Declarations of Trust

FAQs

I am interested in providing financial security for my children, but do not feel comfortable giving them substantial amounts of money yet – what would you recommend?

One option would certainly be to set up a Trust naming your children as beneficiaries. The trustees of such a trust (and you could appoint yourself as a trustee) would decide when and how much your children would receive.

What are the tax implications when setting up a Trust?

There are a number of tax implications that need to be considered when setting up a Trust. Such implications will vary depending on the type of Trust being set up, the type and value of the assets being place in the Trust and the length of time the assets are held in the Trust. It is important for the impact of Capital Gains Tax, Inheritance Tax and Income Tax to be assessed. Get in touch with one of our experts for a free no obligation discussion to see how we could help.

Can I still benefit from assets given away or transferred to a Trust?

You can, but if you do, many of the benefits gifting/transferring the assets will be lost (e.g. from HM Revenue and Customs point of view if you retain a benefit of any asset, they will consider that it is still yours from an Inheritance Tax point of view – this is known as a ‘Gift with a reservation of benefit –  a GROB for short’).

To get more expert advice on estate planning and protecting your wealth, contact our Wills & Probate specialists today to discuss how we can help – get in touch at 02920 829 100, visit our contact page, or fill out the enquiry form on this page.