Estate Planning
As part of your strategic financial planning we will also conduct an assessment of the potential exposure to inheritance tax within your estate.
This process involves a review of any existing wills and, if appropriate, recommendations for immediate inheritance tax planning.
Reviewing existing wills
Many clients who come to us have inappropriately worded wills, or indeed they may have no will at all. The potential implications for such clients are:
- their estates may not be distributed according to their wishes (or according to the needs of their immediate family).
- there may be a considerable delay between the death of the client and the family receiving capital and/or income from the estate.
- clients may be unnecessarily exposing their families to inheritance tax obligations that can in many situations materially reduce the size of the estate passed on to their heirs.
Any of the above events can cause substantial distress to families at a time when they are already suffering deeply.
Carefully drafted wills can avoid these problems and ensure that your estate is distributed promptly, according to your wishes and with the minimum exposure to inheritance tax.
Immediate inheritance tax planning
Whilst appropriately drafted wills can help to reduce the exposure to inheritance tax on death, it may make sense to start the process of reducing this exposure immediately. At Fensham Howes we have considerable experience in how to reduce your potential exposure to inheritance tax whilst ensuring that access to and control of capital remains with you.
Strategies to reduce inheritance tax are tailored to your unique family circumstances; ensuring that the appropriate balance is struck between reducing the exposure to tax and controlling the flow of wealth between generations.
Working with your solicitor
We will be happy to liaise with your solicitor, providing details of our recommendations so that the appropriate wills can be drafted. Alternatively, if you do not have a relationship with a solicitor we are able to recommend highly competent firms that specialise in this field.