UK Inheritance Tax Specialists for 18 Years
Our Mission - Financial peace of mind for all our clients and team
Trusts are generally legally referred to as Settlements. Trusts are a separate legal entity, so any assets gifted to a Trust will fall outside of your Estate after seven years. As Trusts can be complex in their legal wording, we use some of the best Lawyers in the country to draft them.
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1. Protect your entire Estate in event of your children becoming divorced or bankrupt
2. Protect your entire Estate if your children predecease their spouse
3. Avoid inheritance tax being paid on your Estate by your grandchildren when your children die – double taxation
4. Obtain Double Taxation Relief on the value of a Limited Company if you are small business owner
A Trust is a legal arrangement where the person or persons who own an asset can transfer the ownership to Beneficiaries of the Trust (usually their children or grandchildren). The distribution of capital or income is controlled by the Trustees. The Trustees are usually the parents and sometimes also the adult children. These adult children can be both Trustees and Beneficiaries.
There are normally three parties involved in setting up a Trust:
1. The Settlor. The Settlor sets up the initial asset e.g. an insurance or pension contract and then transfer the control of the assets to the Trustee.
2. The Trustee. The Trustee is the legal owner of the assets and holds and manages them for the benefit of the Beneficiaries.
3. The Beneficiaries. The Beneficiaries are the individuals or groups of people selected by the Settlor to receive the benefits of the Trust.
Many people believe a Will is as effective as a Trust, but this is not always true. As well as being more effective than a Will for mitigating IHT, using a Trust has other advantages.
Wills only come into effect on death and therefore are at risk from changes in legislation.
Trusts provide certainty, as they are immediately effective. Changes in legislation will not normally affect existing Trusts.
Even when a person has made a Will, Probate is still needed.
Assets under a Trust are not subject to the delay of Probate, as long as there is a surviving Trustee. Extra legal costs are usually involved in running a Trust.
With the assistance of one of our strategic partners, we can help you arrange a Will that is correctly worded. We can also help you plan your investments.
With a Trust IT is possible to organize investment and Estate planning together-we offer different Trusts for different asset classes.
Wills become public on death, so everyone can see who received what. This is not ideal in complex family situations.
Trusts are confidential. Details are not available to the public.
If you are a settlor you cannot benefit from your own Trust. If you did benefit, the assets in the Trust will have the Gifts with Reservation of Benefit rules applied by HMRC and so the Trust would fail to avoid inheritance tax. Once you die your widow or widower can benefit from certain Trusts.
As potential Beneficiaries of a Discretionary Trust do not have a right to the Trust assets if a Beneficiary dies, none of the value of the Trust property will be included in his or her Estate for IHT purposes. This would not be the case had an Interest in Possession Trust been used.
The Trustees will have total control over the Trust funds and the discretion to pay out monies to whomever they feel it appropriate, from the various classes of Beneficiaries.
This means that should any Beneficiary in the future be in receipt of state or local authority benefits, the entitlement to money from the Trust fund will not stop these benefits being paid to the Beneficiary. Of course, there is a further benefit which means that should your spouse/partner become involved in any further relationship following your death, the assets within the Discretionary Trust will be protected from this third party acquiring them.
Once you have written a policy under Trust, you have no power to end the Trust other than in your capacity as a Trustee. The only action you can take is to stop paying the premiums for affected policies.
The Trustees may be able to advance all the Trust property to Beneficiaries so nothing is left in the Trust, thus bringing it to an end.
Yes, Trusts, as you can see from all of the above, can be complex and require experienced advice and help to obtain the many benefits they provide.
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Reed,
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The information contained in this web site is for UK consumers only. Like most firms of solicitors and accountants, Bluebond Tax Planning is not regulated by the FCA. The content of this website does not constitute FCA regulated financial advice and all content is provided for general information purposes only. Bluebond is not responsible for any action you may take as a result of information on this site. All advice will be delivered on a personal basis once we fully understand your situation and our client agreements have been signed.
