Planning for what will happen after your death can make the lives of your loved ones much easier. It is essential to create an estate plan, manage Inheritance Tax and make a will. Simple planning will ensure your assets are fully protected so that your loved ones receive their rightful inheritance.

Will I need to pay Inheritance Tax?

It depends on the size of your estate. Currently:

  – your estate would pay 40% tax on anything above £325,000 Inheritance Tax threshold, known as the Nil Band Rate, or

  – your estate could pay 36% of anything above £325,000, if you leave more than 10% of your net estate to charity.

That means that estates worth less than £325,000 pay no Inheritance Tax. Married couples and civil partners can transfer any unused Inheritance Tax allowance to the remaining partner when they die. This means the threshold for that partner can be raised to as much as £650,000 in 2017-2018.

In addition, a new allowance called the Residence Nil Rate Band was introduced from April 6, 2017 starting at £100,000 and this can be added to the existing £325,000 Inheritance Tax threshold where a home is left to children, grandchildren or great grandchildren.

What is a trust used for?

Trusts are often used to manage the inheritance of younger children who are not yet financially independent. But there are other reasons for setting up a trust.

Reducing liability to pay certain taxes

Setting up a trust allows you to protect your life insurance and ensure your beneficiaries get a higher amount. That’s because without a trust, your life insurance payout gets added to your estate and will be taxed. If it is in a trust, you will not pay inheritance tax on it.

Managing your estate

If you have young children, you might want them to gradually receive their inheritance so that it’s useful to them over a longer period of time. You can also put conditions on the trust, so that it can only be spent on certain things like education or a first house.

Why do I need a Will?

The vast majority of people put off making a Will for a variety of reasons, either believing that the people they would wish to inherit will automatically do so, or because they don’t think it is relevant to them at this particular time.

The reality is that you can put off making a Will until it is too late and this poses all sorts of problems for the people left behind and could mean that some or all of your inheritance either goes to the wrong person or to the state..

Affording you Peace of Mind

Firstly and most importantly is the peace of mind making a Will provides.

Making a Will enables you to plan exactly what will happen to your property following your demise. This ensures that those you would like to benefit actually do so, in accordance with your wishes and at the same time avoiding any possible disputes between relatives.

Who needs to make a Will?

The answer is everyone. In particular, anyone with dependent relatives, anyone who owns property or has any type of asset which you would wish relatives, friends or charities to benefit from.

But doesn’t everything go to my husband / wife / civil partner/ parents / children etc automatically?

This is a common misconception and dependant on the size of your estate, there are set rules which will be applied to determine who inherits and how much if you do not make a Will.

So what happens if I don’t make a Will?

This is called dying intestate There are specific rules of intestacy which set out who will inherit and by how much if you do do not leave a valid will, this may not be what you would have wished and in the worst case scenarios where relatives cannot be traced, your assets will be taken by the Crown.

Our advisers will help you to have peace of mind, knowing your wishes are clearly outlined and your estate is protected in the best possible way.