Trust Background

Many people, often without realising it, will come into contact at some point of their lives with a trust in one form or another. Yet trusts are widely misunderstood and often seen as something just the rich need to be concerned with. Our site aims to give a quick overview of how trusts work, what they are most commonly used for and to correct some of the widespread misconceptions held about trusts. Trusts are becoming a more widespread tool in the search to protect and preserve family assets. The exact technical details of trusts, how they are set up and taxed vary from client to client, so this site focuses only on some of the broader principles.

The site will help to outline the use and types of trusts available within the Legacy Protect Limited trust portfolio as well as their significant Asset Protection Qualities. Our bespoke planning service therefore gives you the peace of mind that the design and implementation of your new Family Trust Structure is in the best possible hands. Trusts have been used by families for centuries and are steeped in British history, from Richard Whittington (the real-life inspiration for the pantomime character Dick Whittington), who bequeathed his fortune to trust which, nearly 600 years later, continues today. To the founder and mastermind of the Virgin business enterprise, the charismatic Richard Branson whose private wealth and resources comprise of an intricate web of trusts which span the Atlantic Ocean into the British Virgin Isles.

Trusts are also common place in everyday life in the UK, for example, most company pension schemes are structured as trusts as well as many charitable organisations. The core aim through the use of trusts is to preserve, protect and provide longevity to the estates of individuals. Trusts help to achieve this through two main features; the effectiveness of trusts to assist reducing tax liabilities and the ability to reduce exposure of assets to social and domestic risks of the beneficiaries such as divorce.

Why use trusts?

The vast majority of people put off making a Will for a variety of reasons, either believing that the people they would wish the type of trust most relevant to you will be a trust established to arrange and protect your family’s financial affairs. This will allow you the significant confidence in knowing how assets will be used in the future as well as maintaining control in the interim. Essentially trusts provide a means of ring-fencing and looking after money or property for people who may not be ready or able to manage it for themselves or alternatively prevent people benefiting from it that you wouldn’t want for example the tax man or an ex-wife. Trusts can even be created to assist people who are not even born yet i.e. future children or grandchildren.

Trusts are extremely effective when planning how money and assets should pass from one generation to another, especially when family structures can be complicated by divorces and second marriages. This coupled with the growing frequency of marriage breakdowns, the increase in personal assets used in long term care costs and the number of individuals now liable to Inheritance Tax on their estates helps illustrate the need for effective trust planning and their rise in popularity. One of the rewarding things about accumulating your wealth for the future is knowing that one day it can be passed on to others .Your wealth might be built up from 40 years of work to clear the mortgage on your home, family businesses, property portfolio’s, savings & investments or even assets abroad all of which will require individual considerations for it to pass intact to your loved ones.

At Legacy Protect Limited we work closely with our clients spending time to understand your personal situation, motives and goals for your family in the future. This time and attention to detail ensures that each family trust really has the family at its heart and is set up by the family, run by the family for the sole benefit of the family. We offer a wide variety of different trust structures at Legacy Protect Limited from helping to reduce your family’s potential Inheritance Tax liability, the likelihood of the family home being used to pay for Care Home costs to removing delays to life cover proceeds being released but by far the most popular reason for many of our family structures being implemented at present is more for the protection of assets and legacies from social and domestic risks. With divorce rates projected to reach 50% and following the death of a partner the rates of remarriage and new partners is more than 60%. So this presents a clear threat to any unprotected legacies that you leave.

Contact Us

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07545 998 722
info@legacyprotectlimited.co.uk