Estate planning is the process of arranging how an estate will be structured, administered and disposed of prior to and after the event of death.
Perhaps most importantly, estate planning can help to minimise tax liabilities of an estate and so reduce the inheritance tax that may be due on your estate.
Estate planning can also be used to protect assets from Long Term Care costs and to guarantee your family/beneficiaries will inherit regardless of any unforeseen circumstances.
What is included in estate planning?
Your estate is made up of everything that you own including property, investments, insurances and cash. A proportion of anything you jointly own is also included in your estate and some gifts that you may have made within the last seven years are also considered to be part of your estate for tax purposes and so identifying the size and scope of your estate is the first step for any good financial advisor.
A great deal of estate planning can be carried out in your Will or with the use of lifetime Trusts. However there are occasions when planning involves investments and sometimes selling and/or rearranging your assets. We have a panel of fully qualified and FCA regulated Independent Financial Advisors. This allows us to be a one stop shop for all your Estate Planning and Investment needs and all of the IFAs we work with offer a ‘whole of market service’, meaning you can be confident that you are receiving the best possible advice and value for money.
Our estate planning services include:
- Inheritance tax planning
- Trust services
- Allocation of assets
- Life assurance plans