Trusts and Estates

There are few opportunities for ‘death bed’ tax planning within the IHT regime, once appropriate wills are in place. In particular the provisions of IHT Act 1984 governing business property relief contain a requirement that..

‘Discounted gift’ schemes may be regarded as one of the acceptable faces of tax planning, since HMRC have issued guidance on how to arrange a discounted gift scheme without falling foul of the rules governing gifts with reservation of..

It is a fundamental principle of English trust law that a non-charitable ‘purpose trust’ will not be recognised. That does not, however, mean that it is impossible to arrange for money or property to be held for the purposes of some..

Discretionary trusts are a well-established feature of the will-drafting, and private client advisory scenes. The essence of a discretionary trust is that wide-ranging discretions are vested in the trustees, particularly in relation to who shall..

With radical CGT changes about to come into force, it is likely that over the next couple of years the establishment of CGT disposal dates will become of crucial importance. In some cases it will be crucially important to establish a disposal before..

After the announcement of the transferable IHT nil rate band and the flat rate capital gains tax in the pre-Budget report, Mr Darling’s Budget statement on 12 March will inevitably leave trusts and estates practitioners with a sense of..