Lifetime Trusts
Protect your estate, assets and wealth
Poor planning of your estate, assets and wealth means that those you love can be unintentionally disinherited in many ways. Thankfully Lifetime Trusts are a solution to this challenge, and are both simple and flexible. Undoubtedly, in these modern times we now have far more wealth than ever before. Furthermore, family dynamics have become more diverse and fragmented. Consequently this means that the threats to passing on assets have also increased.
In short, Trusts are used to protect:
Assets – ensuring they pass to the right people at the right time
Beneficiaries – ensuring they enjoy the full benefit of their inheritance
Lifetime Trusts Explained
Trusts are not a new concept. For over 800 years, Trusts have been used to protect and preserve family wealth and are no longer just for the wealthy. Anyone can set up a Lifetime Trust. A Lifetime Trust is a vital estate planning tool for anyone wishing to protect their wealth and assets long-term. Set up during your lifetime, your assets are transferred into it now, however you still retain access and control of those assets. A Trust is simply a legal arrangement and an ideal tool for not only asset protection but also wealth preservation. Using a Trust protects your wealth from numerous disinheritance threats or ‘what ifs’. Most importantly, you can achieve maximum protection with complete flexibility.
Benefits of Lifetime Trusts
- Remove Probate fees and delays, minimising stress
- Avoid sideways disinheritance and as a result maximise bloodline inheritance in the long-term
- Gain access to your hard-earned wealth at all times, retaining control of your assets
- Ensure your wishes are fully observed
- Deliver the maximum amount of inheritance to the people you love, quickly and simply
- Remain in control of any future care fees
Your wishes, observed to the letter
Many people have specific wishes of how their wealth and assets are distributed when they pass away. With this in mind a Lifetime Trust proves very useful. For example, you can:
- Pass assets to children or grandchildren. However, you can hold back their inheritance until they reach a certain age, or pass to them only under specific conditions
- Ring fence family assets against problems following death, divorce or remarriage
- Distribute your assets much more quickly. Therefore saving thousands of pounds that may otherwise be lost in Probate fees
In line with new government legislation the majority of Lifetime Trusts must now be registered with HMRC. The Trust Registration Service has been put in place by government in order to strengthen compliance with anti-money laundering regulations. Full details can be found on our Trust Registration page or alternatively you can visit the HMRC Trust registration page
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