For the vast majority of people, we spend all our lives working to build up wealth from property, savings, pensions and investments. And we hope these assets will provide financial security for our loved ones when we are no longer here.

Your Will stipulates whom you wish to benefit from your assets and how much they should receive, however, if an unexpected event were to occur, the Will does not protect the value of your estate and the amounts left to your loved ones can be significantly diminished.

Where a Will does not protect your assets, Trusts are specifically designed to protect your assets both during your lifetime and for generations to come.

Different Trusts provide different benefits for your family, some of the reasons to protect your assets may be obvious but other reasons you may not be aware of, benefits of a Trust can include but are not limited to:

No Probate or Delays – Probate is required on all estates over £5000, even where there is a Will in place and Solicitors administrating the estate can charge as much as 5% of the value of the estate. Assets held in Trust are not subject to Probate.

Failed Relationships – By “Ring Fencing” your assets for your children, if one were to suffer a relationship failure, their inheritance is protected against any claims to their inheritance by a previous partner or spouse.

Protection for Benefit Dependent Beneficiaries – If assets are inherited by someone who is dependent on benefits, either short term - such as unemployment or long term such as a congenital birth defect, they are unlikely to continue to receive state support. Where assets are owned in Trust your beneficiary would still qualify for state support and be able to benefit from the assets within the Trust.

Protection from Bankruptcy – If you or your beneficiaries are in business you may wish to protect your assets from unforeseen business debts, while a Trust will not stop someone being declared bankrupt, it can avoid your assets being taken to satisfy claims against you or your beneficiaries once you have passed.

No Claims on your Estate – Not all families situations are straight forward the law entitles relatives and dependants to claim “Reasonable Financial Provision” against your estate. Defending the claim can take years and is likely to run up thousands of pounds worth of legal costs. A claim cannot be made against any assets held in Trust.

Generational Inheritance Tax - Married couples who own property and have children have IHT thresholds of £1M, single people who own property and have children have IHT thresholds of £500K. Passing amounts through a Will could create significant IHT losses for your beneficiaries by pushing them over the relevant threshold level. A Trust used correctly will prevent generational IHT.

Sideways Disinheritance - If unfortunately, one of your beneficiaries died younger than expected but after they had inherited from you, their Will or the law would pass the inheritance to their husband or wife. Remarriage would create loss and may mean another family benefits from your assets and not your grandchildren. A Trust would ring fence assets for your bloodline.

Why Sanctuary Tax & Trust Services?

With over 20 years of experience in Estate and Inheritance planning we have helped families in the area protect their assets and plan their inheritance in the most cost-effective way. While the individual family’s circumstance may vary, the one constant is that each family aims to provide the maximum amount of inheritance possible without the stress of complex legal jargon.