Estate and Inheritance Tax Planning Solicitors
Writing a Will is an essential part of life planning. However, making sure that your Will is tax efficient is equally as important when considering what you want to happen to your estate after you are gone.
Our experienced estate planning solicitors specialise in finding practical, intelligent solutions to help you plan, mitigate or avoid future liabilities of Inheritance Tax (IHT). This can help to ensure your loved ones receive the maximum benefit from your estate when you pass away.
In the event of your death, your estate could be liable to pay Inheritance Tax of 40%, if your estate exceeds the IHT threshold (currently £325,000). By planning efficiently during your lifetime, you maximise Inheritance Tax reliefs and exceptions which will allow more of your estate to pass to your chosen beneficiaries.
Our specialist estate planning lawyers can advise you on the various ways in which you can minimise Inheritance Tax liabilities. This includes the best use of gifts and exemptions, such as lifetime gifts, annual gifts and gifts to charity.
You can also use Trusts to pass assets to others, such as your children, and invest in regulated financial and pension products.
Depending on the complexity of your financial affairs, you may also require financial advice. If so, we maintain a network of trusted professionals and can refer you to an independent financial planner who can advise you on a range of regulated products.
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Get in touch with our estate and Inheritance Tax planning solicitors in Bristol
To speak to our specialist estate and Inheritance Tax planning lawyers in Bristol, contact us on 0117 325 2929 or complete our online enquiry form.
Our estate tax planning and Inheritance Tax planning services
We offer a comprehensive estate and Inheritance Tax planning service for people all over the UK from our offices in Bristol and South Gloucestershire, in Bedminster, Bishopston, Bristol city centre, Kingswood and Thornbury.
Our specialist lawyers can advise you on all of the available options for minimising your estate’s liability for Inheritance Tax and help you take the necessary steps to get the required provisions in place.
Using inheritance exemptions
If your estate is worth less than £325,000, it will generally be exempt from payment of Inheritance Tax, as long as lifetime gifting has not used up this threshold at the time of death. For estates worth more than £325,000, only the portion of your estate above this threshold will be liable for Inheritance Tax.
An additional relief called the Residential Nil Rate Band, is also available on death where the property has been left to direct descendants in a Will or Intestacy.
Our solicitors can advise you on which Inheritance Tax exceptions apply to your circumstances and make sure your Will is drafted in the right way to let you take advantage of all of the available provisions.
Making gifts
There are various types of gifts you can make that will not be considered part of your estate for Inheritance Tax purposes. This includes annual gifts up to a total of £3,000 (from savings/capital), small gifts of up to £250 and wedding gifts ranging from £1,000-£5,000, depending on who the recipient is.
You can also make larger, one-off gifts, whether of cash, property, shares or other assets. As long as these gifts are made more than seven years before you pass away (and certain other conditions are met), they should not be included in the value of your estate for Inheritance Tax purposes.
Any gifts you make to charity will also normally not be included as part of your estate for Inheritance Tax. This allows you to ensure the maximum benefit for the causes you care about.
We can advise you on the use of gifts, ensuring you can help the people you love while helping to effectively minimise your estate’s liability for Inheritance Tax.
Using Trusts to protect assets
There are various types of Trusts you can use to protect assets from Inheritance Tax and ensure that your loved ones continue to receive the support they need long-term.
You can establish a Trust in your Will so that certain assets will be placed into a Trust upon your death. They are commonly used where two people share a house but each own distinct shares as ‘tenants in common’ or where there is a need to provide for the ongoing care of a vulnerable dependant when you are no longer around.
Lifetime Trusts allow you to set up a Trust while you are still alive. There are various rules around using Lifetime Trusts, especially concerning any assessment of your estate to determine your liability for care costs.
We can advise you on the use of all types of Trusts, so you can use them efficiently while ensuring you comply with all of the relevant rules, allowing you to achieve your goals.
Tax-efficient planning during estate administration
If you are administering the estate of a loved one who has passed away, there are steps you can take to reduce the estate’s liability for Inheritance Tax. This may be necessary if the person died without leaving a Will, where someone has refused a bequest or if the deceased failed to make their estate tax-efficient.
We can advise you on the use of options such as varying a Will, use of discretionary Trusts and redemption of a life interest in a property for a surviving spouse, civil partner or dependant of the deceased.
Estate tax planning and Inheritance Tax planning FAQs
Trusts are commonly used as a way not only of protecting assets but of structuring an estate more tax efficiently.
Our trusts and estate solicitors will work with you to determine how your assets will be managed and how to mitigate or avoid Inheritance Tax.
There are many types of trusts, including family trusts and discretionary trusts. We’ll talk to you about your options and the potential tax (and other) implications of each type of trust, helping you to make a fully informed decision about which option is right for you.
There are various options to mitigate Inheritance Tax on a property, but two of the most common are to gift the property during your lifetime or to place the property into a trust.
In both cases, it is important to show that you are no longer deriving any benefit from the property, otherwise, the house could still be considered to be part of your estate upon your death and used as an asset that is assessable when paying care fees.
For example, if you gift your home to one of your children and wish to continue living there, you would need to pay your child a reasonable rate of rent for this to be considered a genuine gift for Inheritance Tax purposes.
If you have inherited property, have rented it out during your lifetime and you then decide to sell the property, you may have to pay Capital Gains Tax (CGT) depending on the circumstances. This will usually only be if the property is not your main residence and you make a profit on the property i.e. it was valued at £200,000 when you inherited it and you later sell it for £300,000.
Any CGT you are liable for would be calculated on the profit you made, although you can deduct reasonable costs, such as any money you spent on improving the property, legal fees etc.
This depends on the type of gift. You can give up to £3,000 in annual gifts (from savings/capital) and can also make as many small gifts of up to £250 from income as you like (as long as you are not eating into your capital for day-to-day expenses.
You can make a wedding gift of up to £1,000, while parents can give a wedding gift to their child of up to £5,000 and grandparents up to £2,500.
You can also make larger gifts, as long as they are made seven years or more before your death and you do not continue to derive any benefit from the gift after it has been made.
As part of the probate process, you will need to have all of the assets included in the estate valued. This will give you the estate’s ‘gross value’. You then deduct any debts, such as the mortgage, to give you the estate’s ‘net value’.
You will then also need to deduct the value of any assets that are exempt from Inheritance Tax, such as those left to a spouse, civil partner or charity, certain types of investments and take into account any other exemptions and applicable tax reliefs. This will then give you the estate’s ‘taxable value’.
You will need to report all of this to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and pay any Inheritance Tax due on the estate within 6 months of the deceased’s date of death.
The Inheritance Tax Nil Rate Band is the amount each person is able to leave tax-free to their beneficiaries upon their death. The standard Nil Rate Band is £325,000, meaning Inheritance Tax must only be paid on the value of the estate above this threshold.
A transferrable Nil Rate Band arises if one party to a marriage or civil partnership dies and the value of their estate that is chargeable to IHT does not use up all of the NRB they are entitled to. This unused portion can be used upon the second death to mitigate IHT.
In the event of your death, if you have left your home to your direct descendants, additional relief is available in the form of the Residence Nil Rate Band.
Our estate planning and Inheritance Tax planning expertise
Our Wills, Probate and Estate planning lawyers have decades of experience advising clients in all matters related to estate and Inheritance Tax planning. While we are based in Bristol, we work with clients throughout the South West and the rest of the UK.
We offer a convenient, modern service with a personal touch. We are happy to speak to you face-to-face, over the phone, via email or using video conferencing. To make handling your affairs as convenient as possible, we can visit you in your home, nursing home or hospital.
Many of our team are full members of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and several hold the STEP Advanced Certificate in advising vulnerable clients. We are also Law Society accredited practitioners for Mental Capacity (Welfare).
We are committed to providing exceptional personal client service, resulting in a very high client retention rate. Over 70% of our business comes via referrals from existing clients.
Barcan+Kirby is Lexcel accredited by the Law Society for the high standards of our client care and practice management.
Contact our estate tax planning and Inheritance Tax planning lawyers in Bristol
For friendly, expert help with any aspect of estate and Inheritance Tax planning, please get in touch by calling 0117 325 2929 or completing our online enquiry form.