You may be concerned about how to best pass on your assets and estate in an organised way. Establishing a trust can help protect the assets you’ve built up during your lifetime, and succession planning helps you decide how best to move your wealth on to future generations. These can be useful vehicles if you’re concerned about how to best pass on your wealth – but it’s important to get the right legal advice to ensure you find the best solution for your needs.

Our solicitors help you plan for the future, making and carrying out the important decisions that will ensure your estate and legacy are protected for the future. We will explain your options in plain English, making sure all practicalities are addressed, so the process is as smooth as possible.

What Is Succession Planning?

Succession planning helps you decide how best to pass your wealth, assets, and estate on to future generations. It includes deciding on who should benefit, when they should benefit, and then the process of carrying out those decisions. Succession planning usually starts by making or amending a Will, to ensure that when you die, your estate is dealt with according to your wishes. For more complex estates there are usually more steps such as creating trusts to protect your wealth, or appointing professionals to help manage your assets.

Our expert solicitors offer tailored advice that best suits the specific needs of you and your families future - there isn’t a one size fits all when pass on your assets. We work with a range of clients, from those with simple Wills, specific family trusts, high-net-worth individuals with complex expectations, and where we act as professional attorneys and deputies. Whatever options are best for you we will help you plan the best way forward, giving you advice you can trust, and building a long-term relationship with you.

Succession planning can help you:

• Manage family expectations of their inheritance.
• Plan for unexpected circumstances, such as losing mental capacity.
• Appoint professionals to help manage your assets and business.
• Reduce inheritance tax on your assets.
• Help the next generation with their responsibilities and management a large inheritance.
• Decide how best to hand over control of your business and assets.

How we can help protect your assets with a trust

We know that everybody's situation is different. We listen to what is important to you and recommend the most suitable solutions, taking into account your current position as well as your long-term goals.

We can advise on:

• creating trusts during lifetime and by Will.
• specialist trusts, such as disabled person’s trusts and personal injury trusts.
• the tax regimes for trusts.
• trustees’ powers and duties.
• trust administration.

Why set up a trust?

Trusts are a useful tool for managing and protecting a whole range of assets, including property, personal possessions, shares, and savings.

They can be used to safeguard assets for your family, or in specific situations, such as following a successful medical negligence claim.

You can also use them to delay the transfer of your assets if you feel your beneficiaries aren't ready to receive large amounts of cash outright. There are many reasons why this may be the case: you may have young children, grandchildren or loved ones with special needs; or you might have concerns about beneficiaries being involved in a risky business venture or an unsteady relationship.

Whatever your situation, you’re able to choose who will benefit from the trust and appoint the trustees to administer this.

How do I know if a trust is right for me?

There are several forms of trusts, which can be used in different ways. Your aims may be to protect family members or to consider lifetime Inheritance Tax planning.

If you set a trust up during your lifetime, you will need to place the assets in the hands of trustees who manage them. You can also establish trusts in your Will, which only come into effect on your death. The trustees take over the management of the trust once the estate administration is complete.

In either case, it's essential to think carefully about who you appoint as your trustees as they need to be able to work together and carry out certain duties to administer the trust.

It’s also important to make sure you seek legal advice before establishing a trust. While these do offer certain benefits, they’re not always the most suitable choice. For example, a lifetime trust means you part with full ownership of the assets involved, so you need to plan for this carefully.

We will guide you through the pros and cons of trusts to find the best option for you.

Expertise you can rely on

Our team is experienced in helping clients plan for the future. We’re recognised in leading legal directory, The Legal 500, which notes Tozers as being "very approachable and knowledgeable", while identifying our head of team, Grainne Staunton, as "an expert in inheritance tax and succession planning".

We’re also members of the Society of Trusts and Estates Practitioners (STEP), keeping at the forefront of best practice so you can feel confident in your arrangements.  

Most importantly to us, our expertise is reflected in the positive feedback we receive from our clients.

“We approached Tozers to put in place wills, trusts and set up Powers of Attorney. The trusts put matters slightly outside the norm and several conversations were needed to ensure we would achieve what we wanted."

"Service and advice were excellent and communication was very good at all stages. We would recommend Tozers to anyone who asks.”

Find out how we can help

If you’re considering establishing a trust or would like advice on how to best protect your assets, please contact our solicitors using our online enquiry form below or call us at one of our offices.