Estate Planning
With the rise of property wealth in the UK and stagnant Inheritance Tax (IHT) limits it’s very easy now to slip into the bracket where 40% tax would be paid on anything over and above your allowance.
Estate planning is much more than trying to save IHT. It’s how to structure your wealth so it can be passed down the generations in the most tax efficient manner whilst not depriving you control of your wealth so you can maintain an acceptable standard of living in your golden years.
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Estate Planning can be a difficult topic to discuss…after all, who wants to talk about taxes & death!!
Unless you believe you are immortal or you will never have assets above the allowance then you should still give this topic some thought as parts of it could still apply to you.
What are the steps to complete estate planning?
- Arrange Life Cover to repay all your debts on death.
- Arrange a tax efficient Will or a Mirror Will plus a letter of wishes
- If you have young children incorporate a Guardianship Agreement in the Will
- If you have disabled children then consider a special type of Trust to look after their long term welfare.
- Put into place 2 Lasting Powers of Attorney each – Health& welfare and Finance & Property
- Arrange your home ownership in a special way and use trusts to safeguard your home
- Have a plan to make lifetime gifts to reduce the value of your estate and live for 7 years after making them to fall completely outside your estate.
- Re-arrange your investments so that they potentially fall outside the realms of IHT
- Take expert advice on your pensions and investments
- If you have an overseas Will be careful not to cancel that Will when making the UK one
- Review your circumstances frequently as you get older. Some planning cannot be done if its too late or your are not in good health.
- Always discuss your plans with your children and tell them where the Will is kept.
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What you need to know...
You can always get details from www.gov.uk which gives up to date information on allowances.
For UK IHT purposes your worldwide assests form part of your estate and must be declared on death for probate and tax purposes.
It is payable immediately but HMRC may allow time to pay. Interest and charges may however be payable.
In some circumstances short term loans are available to settle the tax. Alternatively the property will have to be sold. This is where suitable insurances would alleviate the need to sell an asset.
Your estate would be dealt with according to the “intestacy” rules which means your assets could go to someone you did not want the funds to go. If you have no relatives anywhere then your assets go to the Crown.
In the tax year 2022/2023 the first £270,000 would go the surviving spouse/ civil partner and 50% of the balance and the other 50% to be shared between the children equally. If there are no children then the spouse/civil partner gets it all.
If you are single you partner is not entitled to anything. Hence why it is important to make a Will.
If you are even unable to make your own decisions due to injury or poor health your appointed Attorneys can make decisions on your behalf by the power vested in them through the documents. These will be people you trust implicitly to make the best choices for you when your health does not allow. These documents are legal documents and registered at the Office of the Public Guardian.
Then it’s an expensive and slow process to get authority from the Courts each time you need to do something. Its far more prudent to have these documents in place.
A solicitor is just one set of people who can arrange Wills and Powers of Attorneys. Expert Wills Trusts advisers can also assist. We have such experts AND we also have an on-line solution to help you arrange these from the comfort of your own home. Our system uses artificial intelligence to ask the right questions and it provides you with a solution. Payment can be made in full or credit terms can be agreed to spread the payment. Click on https://review.chesswills.co.uk/shop to access the site.
For the tax year 2022/23 the Nil Rate Band is £325,000
For estates valued below £2m there is a further £175k Residence Nil Rate Band available where the main residence is left to your direct descendants, stepchildren or adopted children.
This means each person who is a home owner has a £500k tax free allowance, For a couple its £1m.
Where you leave 10% or more of your estate to Charity your tax rate drops to 36% from 40%. Whilst it’s a great idea the Charity will want this money after you pass away. If the main asset is the house then the beneficiaries may have to raise funds on the asset or sell it to fulfil your wishes!
Trusts is a vast subject to explain here and a face to face consultation is needed once we have your entire asset base details. It should be borne in mind that the aristocracy and High Net Worth families have for centuries been using trusts to protect wealth and away from the tax man.
When used effectively trusts can be very powerful. To book a chat email bob.singh@chessmortgages.co.uk
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