protect your assets for those you care about with the legacy protection trust

There are many potential threats to your children’s inheritance, re-marriage of a spouse, long term care and Inheritance Tax are just  three reasons your estate may not pass to your loved ones. Your  assets could end up in the hands of your Local Authority, the Inland  Revenue or could even end up passing outside your family. Your Trust is your own personal ‘safety deposit box’. It  helps protect your hard-earned assets and helps ensure  your family’s future Inheritance is preserved for their  benefit. If your property is placed in a Trust, you are still free to move house if you so wish, and any savings placed in the Trust can be invested for capital growth or to produce an income and can be accessed as required. Furthermore, a Family Protection Trust used in conjunction with your Will – helps to ensure that your assets pass to your chosen beneficiaries after your death… and at the time that suits them best. On your death, your Trustees can distribute your Estate in terms of your Will without incurring unnecessary expense and having to follow complicated legal procedures. What are the benefits? There are many benefits to gained by setting up a Legacy Protection Trust covering all different kinds of issues that you and your family may face in the future. A Legacy Protection Trust helps you:

• Avoid the Probate process on death…and the expense, delay and hassle involved Winding up an Estate is often a lengthy and costly process. Any assets held within the Trust do not require to go through the normal Executry procedure in the Courts avoiding these often complicated and costly procedures.

• Make sure your loved ones inherit at the right time for them You do not know when you are going to die! Accordingly you do not know how your children are going to be placed at that time. What if one of your beneficiaries is heading for divorce or has a drink or drug or gambling problem or is bankrupt? That beneficiary might well inherit at a time when it would be better if he had not. A Family Protection Trust can hold a beneficiary’s assets until it suits that person to receive them.

• Avoid passing an Inheritance Tax Liability to your Children It may not suit your beneficiaries to inherit from you as this might mean on their death that they pay inheritance tax. Allow them to benefit from your estate without adding it to their estate for inheritance tax purposes by placing your assets in a Trust.

• Avoid unwanted claims on your estate In England and Wales, when you die your relatives can come forward to claim a share of your estate even if it is not what you wanted and even if it’s not good for them the Legacy Protection Trust can avoid this.

• Avoid sideways disinheritance When one partner dies the survivor would normally inherit the whole joint estate, however if the survivor later remarries without making proper provision there is a real risk that the whole estate will pass to the new partner and his or her family. The original family may therefore be effectively disinherited.

Through prudent planning we can avoid such scenarios. Our estate planning services are designed to allow you to pass your hard earned wealth to those you choose. Whatever the potential threats, our Associates are equipped to ensure we can fulfil your wishes. 

can trusts reduce or eliminate the tax i pay?

Trusts have been instrumental in mitigating tax since medieval times. Trusts were initially created for the Nobility and wealthy landowners to avoid paying taxes to the Crown. The introduction of Trusts led to a distinct loss of tax revenue and it did not take long for the first anti-avoidance statute to be introduced; by Henry VIII in 1535. Since then, there have been many changes to Trusts  and their uses and equally to the Inland Revenue rules which affect them. Nowadays, you don’t have to be a Nobleman, or a wealthy landowner to want to take advantage of the many tax strategies Trusts can provide. Many people now look to using Trusts as a means of mitigating tax which would otherwise be payable. So whether you own your own business and your concern is Corporation Tax, own property or hold other forms of assets which would fall prey to Capital Gains Tax, or believe Inheritance Tax will become an issue for your intended beneficiaries; Countrywide Tax & Trust Corporation Limited can provide you with the correct type of tax planning to ensure as much tax as possible is saved. Contact us for further information.