For many people, working is a necessary means to an end; everyday household costs obviously have to be paid for but making sure your family is cared for after death is a significant incentive for strong financial planning.
There are several schemes designed to accommodate these wishes and one of the most prominent is the Family Trust.
Put succinctly, a family trust is a legally designed “vault” which you can use to put your house, investments, savings and other assets into to keep them safe while you’re alive. On death, the trust and its contents can be accessed by those that you have named to receive them.
The trust is a separate legal entity from the proposer enshrined in English trust law and is an extremely popular way of protecting assets that you have worked hard to accumulate.
What are the benefits of a family trust?
There are several advantages of holding assets “in trust” – correctly held assets mean after death that those persons inheriting the contents could benefit from the tax protection afforded to it e.g reduction of the impact of certain inheritance taxes.
A young person inheriting a significant amount of assets may be unable to manage it correctly. A family trust would mean the trustees manage the account until the beneficiary is old enough, as stated in the trust’s deeds, to do so for themselves.
Another advantageous reason for a family trust scheme can be found in the emotionally fraught area of loss of mental capacity; having a trust in place can ensure that we have the correct people named to look after financial matters if we lose the ability to manage them ourselves. This can be a much easier and quicker way of settling issues than having to involve the Court of Protection.
It is extremely important that this area of financial advice, like most (if not all) others, is explained thoroughly and professionally. If you need guidance on this subject, Clayton Holmes Naisbitt will be happy to assist you. Visit www.chnfc.co.uk or call us on 0113 3878240 for an initial no obligation consultation.
*The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate estate and tax planning