01823 351122 [email protected]

Trusts & Estate Planning

A strategy for providing tax efficiency & security of assets

A trust is a useful tool in a variety of circumstances

During your lifetime you may wish to consider setting up a Trust for Inheritance tax planning purposes or for the benefit of a vulnerable child (or adult), to ensure they have adequate income during their lifetime, whilst the Trustees look after the capital.

 

You may wish to consider including a Trust in your Will, perhaps to preserve assets from erosion by Care Home fees or to protect a vulnerable beneficiary.

 

A Trust may also be used to provide security for your spouse or partner, and at the same time, ensure that on the death of your spouse or partner, there are funds to pass on to your children.

 

This type of Trust is particularly relevant where a couple have children and step children and wish to ensure that both sides of their respective families ultimately benefit.

 

We can advise existing Trustees on issues relating to the administration of a Trust or we can act as a professional Trustee, either individually or in conjunction with a lay Trustee.

We can also advise you on the winding up and dissolution of Trusts and the various tax implications.

Inheritance Tax Owed

Important thing to be aware of:

As executor we need to make you aware of your liabilities.

It is usually against the law for us to start sharing out the estate, until we have probate or letters of administration.

Although there are some exceptions, many banks will release a sum of money before the grant to deal with essential expenses such as HMRC – inheritance tax for on account payments.

All banks have their own threshold for how much money they can release from an account without a grant of probate.

If there is tax to pay, then it has to be paid within six months of the end of the month of death and after that interest will start to accrue.

If the executor is unable to make payments under the Direct Payment Scheme, which we will of course attempt to action, then HMRC may offer instalments (subject to interest), while awaiting probate to be granted.

If there is no money, then it may be that a bank loan has to be arranged to pay the tax until we have got the Grant of Probate, but that’s quite rare in our view.

We can not be held liable for any delay in paying over the Inheritance Tax or a payment on account due to insufficient funds readily available within the estate or delay by the bank releasing funds to HMRC, any interest accrued will be deducted from the Estate Accounts. We of course will do everything we can to mitigate the level of interest.

Please feel free to call a member of our team for an initial discussion about your requirements (free of charge).

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 01823 351122