Inheritance and succession
We work out what your estate would owe today and what each option, from gifts to trusts, would change.
We work out what your estate would owe today and what each option, from gifts to trusts, would change.
Almost everything that reduces an inheritance tax bill needs years to work, so careful planning now can benefit your estate in the future.
Regular gifting out of income and the seven-year rule are two of the main ones, and both depend on time.
We work out what the bill would be today and show you what each option changes, at no cost to you.
2026/27 rates. Thresholds and reliefs can change at any Budget.
Gifts made in your lifetime that do not qualify as exempt are Potentially Exempt Transfers, and they fall outside your estate provided you survive them by seven years. Die inside that period and the gift comes back into the calculation, though taper relief can reduce the tax on gifts made more than three years before death. Keep a record of what you gave and when.
From 6 April 2025, new long-term UK residence rules determine when overseas assets may fall within UK inheritance tax. The rules are complex and can continue to apply for a period after someone leaves the UK. Your individual circumstances need to be considered.
Succession planning is deciding who takes on your business when you retire or die.
If you run a limited company and want to share ownership between several children, a senior employee or an external buyer, a shareholders' agreement settles it in advance. Selling may change how you are taxed, and if you sell intending to retire you need to tell HMRC.
Without a will, the rules of intestacy decide who inherits your shares, as they do everything else you own.
Funding the buy-out →A Potentially Exempt Transfer falls out of your estate entirely if you survive seven years from making it. Die within that period and it comes back into the calculation, though taper relief can reduce the tax due on gifts made more than three years before death.
A trust lets you decide who benefits and when, which matters where beneficiaries are young, vulnerable, or in a relationship you would rather the money were protected from. Some trusts carry tax charges, which need understanding at the outset.
If you give away an asset and continue to benefit from it, the gift with reservation of benefit rules generally keep it inside your estate, potentially with an income tax charge on top.
Yes. If you would rather not gift assets while you are alive, a life policy written under an appropriate trust can pay out on death an amount matching the liability, so the estate does not have to be broken up to settle it.
As early as you can, because the seven-year rule and taper relief depend on time passing after a gift.
The rules of intestacy decide who inherits, and an unmarried partner receives nothing. The full answer.
Each pension and investment passes under its own rules, with deadlines that matter. The full answer.
From 6 April 2027 the money left in your pensions when you die counts as part of your estate for inheritance tax.
Some gifts are exempt from inheritance tax the moment you make them. Others leave your estate only if you survive seven years.
Read more →In England the council means-tests care home fees against capital limits of £23,250 and £14,250, and the NHS pays where your need is primarily a health need.
Read more →A trust lets you set money aside for a child now, with trustees in charge of it until the child is entitled to it. The type of trust decides who pays tax on the money and the age at which the child can take it.
Read more →What your estate would pay as things stand, and which bands you can use.
Work it out →Eight questions on retirement, protection, savings, your mortgage, your estate and your day-to-day money give a first score. The other 17 complete the written report.
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Independent Financial Adviser
Independent Financial Adviser
Your first call is with an Account Manager and is at no cost to you. Tell us what is on your mind: a pension you have lost track of, a fixed rate ending, a will you keep meaning to write.