Living Trusts, Discretionary Trusts, Bloodline Planning

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Securing Your Estate

Once you have a Will you have taken the first key step to securing your estate and your loved ones inheritance. That’s great news! However, in most situations additional estate planning is needed. This would ensure your monies and assets reach your loved ones intact and are protected against risks/losses from Tax, Creditors or Divorce settlements amongst other issues.

Strategic Implementation

Through the strategic implementation of trusts and bloodline planning, Branch Legal will do their upmost to ensure your loved ones, children and grandchildren are able to benefit completely from the inheritance you wish them to receive whilst, the same time, protecting the family home and other assets from being lost to risks. During the process of preparing your estate plan, it is also the perfect time to ensure you have Lasting Powers of Attorneys (LPA’s) documents in place, so that others can help you with decisions regarding your health and wealth, if or when you are no longer capable of doing so for yourself. Benefits to Lifetime Living Trusts - a Will can only dispose of the assets that you own at the date of your death, however, if the value of those are dissipated during your lifetime, there will be little if anything left for your beneficiaries to inherit.

Lifetime Living Trusts

Lifetime Living Trusts are designed specifically to protect your assets during your lifetime. This will give you the peace of mind that your estate can be passed on securely to your spouse, your children and their bloodline and/or other named beneficiaries, after your death. Other forms of trusts - Family Asset Trusts, Property Protection Trusts, Disabled Person Trusts and Children’s Trusts.

LIVING TRUSTS, DISCRETIONARY TRUSTS, BLOODLINE PLANNING FAQS

Discretionary trusts are a useful way of incorporating a group of beneficiaries of whom may potentially inherit certain assets. It is at the discretion of the trustee to consider each beneficiary and whether they should inherit. Sometimes the deceased has created a memorandum of wishes to guide the trustee.
Inheritance tax (IHT) is 40% of the deceased’s estate. There are certain thresholds and exemptions such as spousal exemption (the surviving spouse will take the assets free of IHT). Upon the second death IHT will be payable.
The threshold is £325,000 per person.
Careful estate planning, creating trusts of up to £325,000 every seven years and incorporating potentially exempt transfers including lifetime gifts can avoid/minimise IHT.