Helping you control and protect your assets
One of the most effective ways you can manage your estate planning is through setting up a trust. The structures into which you can transfer your assets can have lasting consequences for you and your family, so it is important that you obtain professional advice, as the right structures can protect assets and give your family lasting benefits.
If there’s no valid will
When you die, your estate has to be distributed one way or another. If you have a will, your executors have to gain
a Grant of Probate in England & Wales or Northern Ireland (a Grant of Confirmation in Scotland). If there’s no valid will, or the named executors in the will are unwilling or unable to carry out their duties, a Grant of Letters of Administration is needed. This is known as ‘dying intestate’.
Planning your finances in advance should help you ensure that when you die, everything you own goes where you want it to. Making a will is the first step in ensuring that your estate is shared out exactly as you want it to be.
What happens when someone dies?
When someone living abroad dies, the rules for paying Inheritance Tax (IHT) usually depend on:
• How long they lived abroad
• Whether their assets (property, money and possessions) are in the UK or abroad
• If their assets in the UK are‘excluded assets’
• If their assets were put into a trust
Reducing an Inheritance Tax – it’s good to give
A new rule began on 6 April 2012 that reduces the amount of Inheritance Tax due on an estate if at least 10% of the taxable amount is given to a charity – but not to one of the other exempt bodies, unless of course it is also a charity.
Assets that pass on free of Inheritance Tax
Inheritance Tax reliefs allow some assets to be passed on free of Inheritance Tax or with a reduced bill.
HM Revenue & Customs allows you to make a number of small gifts each year without creating an Inheritance Tax liability. Remember, each person has their own allowance, so the amount can be doubled if each spouse or registered civil partner uses their allowances.
Estimating how much liability you could leave behind for your loved ones
Usually the ‘executor’ of the will or the ‘administrator’ of the estate pays Inheritance Tax using funds from the estate.
With careful planning and professional financial advice, it is possible to take preventative action to either reduce your beneficiaries’ potential Inheritance Tax bill or mitigate it out altogether.
No longer a tax that only the richest people in society have to face
As Benjamin Franklin said, the only things that are certain in life are death and taxes, and Inheritance Tax touches on both of them. When you die, the Government assesses how much your estate is worth and then deducts your debts from this to obtain the value of your estate.
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