IHT, Trusts, Estate Planning & Probate

Estate planning means organising your finances and assets to ensure that you can pass on property and belongings to loved ones after your death with the minimum tax burden possible.

To ensure this you will need to take advantage of the various allowances and protections that HMRC allows. This can be a complicated process as there a number of different vehicles that can help, such as trusts or family investment businesses. Whether and how these can be best used will, however, depend upon your unique circumstances. Our specialist team are experts at advising clients on how to protect assets from unnecessary inheritance tax.

Our team are also qualified to complete the probate process after someone's death, ensuring that loved ones only have to deal with one professional, who already understands your wishes and will make sure they are respected throughout.

We also provide stand-alone probate services for people who need help dealing with the death of a loved one.

With the IHT threshold remaining frozen at £325,000 many people will continue to find that the value of their estate takes them into the 40% tax bracket even with the recent introduction of the additional main residence nil rate band. It is therefore vitally important to review your tax position and make sure that you are structured as tax efficiently as possible as the tax savings involved can be substantial. We can advise on several areas through our lifetime planning service so that you can be sure that when you pass away your executors only pay the correct amount of inheritance tax in line with your circumstances.
We help clients of all ages and their families to consider their exposure to Inheritance Tax and how they can be more tax efficient in the future.

You talk: Reviewing your likely IHT position begins with pulling together a snapshot of everything you own and owe, examining what reliefs and exemptions might apply on your death, and working out what can be done to improve this liability.

We listen: We listen carefully to your wants and wishes, as well as your needs, and help you to strike the balance between making lifetime gifts, whilst ensuring you can maintain your lifestyle.

WE advise: As part of our review, we will help you understand how you can minimise IHT and the options available. These range from simple measures, such as making use of annual exemptions or gifting surplus income, through to restructuring your assets, as well as offering Will writing support through our trusted network of contacts.

We can advise you on the merits of setting up a Trust, based on your individual circumstances, as well as reviewing the tax implications and highlighting any other issues that you need to be aware of.

There are many different Trust structures to choose from and we can advise you on the best options, according to your situation and what your preferred outcome is.

TAX MATTERS: As well as helping you understand the pros and cons of each different Trust, we will also explain the Inheritance Tax, Capital Gains Tax and Income Tax implications involved.

TRUST SUPPORT: We can help with the administration by preparing annual accounts and tax returns, as well as advising trustees on the tax implications of distributing funds or assets.

TRUST PLANNING: We can review the Trusts position over time insuring that it still fulfills its original purpose. We can also provide a more extensive review of the families Inheritance Tax position.

We are authorised to advise and support you with applying for Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration. This involves dealing with the Will and registering the death, dealing with beneficiaries and/or trustees, preparing Income Tax Returns, and dealing with HMRC and the Probate Re Our full estate administration service covers obtaining the grant of probate or letters of administration plus dealing with the administration of the estate and division of assets.

GRANT OF PROBATE

We are authorised to advise and support you with applying for grant of probate or letters of administration. this involves dealing with the will and registering the death, dealing with beneficiaries and/or trustees, preparing income tax returns, and dealing with HMRC and the probate registry on your behalf.

GATHERING THE ASSETS

After registering the Grant, we can compile the assets to repay any debts, place advertisements for creditors, make partial distributions to the beneficiaries, search the unclaimed assets register, as well as preparing and submitting the final income tax return for the Estate.

FINALISING THE ESTATE

We can help agree the final liability and obtain clearance from HMRC (including completing the Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax Returns and issuing certificates of deduction of tax to beneficiaries), as well as preparing and circulating the accounts, making the final distributions and distributing the assets in accordance with the Will and finalising the administration.

ESTATE ADMINISTRATION DETAILS & FEES

Our probate application service covers preparing the documents required for the Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration and includes dealing with any necessary H M Revenue and Customs Inheritance Tax Accounts [IHT400 or IHT205].This service is suitable for named executors who wish to administer the estate themselves.

GRANT OF PROBATE

Required if you’re a named executor named in a valid will and you are willing to act.

LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION

Where there is a will but it either did not name any executors, or there are no executors willing to act. It could also be that there is no valid will, in which case administrators are decided using intestacy rules provided they have an interest in the estate.

HMRC

Preparing Inheritance Tax Accounts IHT400 or IHT205.

GRANT OF PROBATE DETAILS & FEES

Details of our firms complaints procedure together with the ICAEW and/or Legal Ombudsman procedure can be accessed below. This also outlines the ICAEW compensation fund arrangements plus information on our firms professional indemnity insurance.

Regulatory & Complaints Information

We are licensed by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales to carry out the reserved legal activity of non-contentious probate in England and Wales. Details of the probate accreditation can be viewed at icaew.com/probate under reference number C002377068. Accredited probate first name - Richardson Swift Ltd. This can be accessed here.

The probate regulations can be found here.

As part of the registration we are required to publish diversity related information which can be found here.