Trusts can sound a bit daunting but they are an effective way of protecting assets if your beneficiaries are children or if you think there is a risk of any beneficiaries having their own financial or matrimonial problems in the future or if you think they may just not be very good at handling money.
Trusts can be set up during your lifetime in connection with tax planning or they can be established in your Will.
There are two main types of Trust.
- The first nominates who the beneficiary will be and then they will be entitled to receive all the income from the Trust assets as of right. You can couple this with the ability for the Trustees to lend or to hand over capital should it ever be required.
- The other type of Trust is Discretionary. Under these you can nominate several people to be potential beneficiaries but you leave it up to the Trustees to decide what to pay out and to whom and in what circumstances. So there is enormous flexibility in how the assets can be handled.
We can help you in deciding which type of Trust may be appropriate in your circumstances.
For further advice please contact Philip Waters, Robert Henshaw or Sally Stockport on 01295 251234.