Trusts
A Trust is a way of managing assets. There are different types of trusts and they are taxed differently. Trusts are set up for a number of reasons, including: to control and protect family assets when someone’s too young to handle their affairs when someone can’t handle their affairs because they’re incapacitated to pass on assets while you’re still alive Discretionary trusts These are where the trustees can make certain decisions about how to use the trust income, and sometimes the capital. Depending on the trust deed, trustees can decide: what gets paid out (income or capital) which beneficiary to make payments to how often payments are made any conditions to impose on the beneficiaries.
Discretionary trusts are sometimes set up to put assets aside for: a future need, like a grandchild who may need more financial help than other beneficiaries at some point in their life beneficiaries who aren’t capable or responsible enough to deal with money themselves Setting up a trust fund offers opportunities to manage your family’s future security in a tax efficient way, both during your lifetime and after your death.
As well as advising on the details of setting up a Trust Fund we also provide a service supporting Trustees with the ongoing administration of Trusts Please contact us to see if our Trust Team can help you in setting up a trust fund.
Equity Release
Equity Release allows individuals aged 55 and over to release money from the home they own and live in without having to make any monthly repayments.
Equity release can play a crucial role in retirement funding and the flexibility and safeguards which are built into all plans approved by the Equity Release Council enable thousands of home owners every year to tap safely in to their housing wealth without having to worry about making monthly repayments.
A fully qualified financial adviser should help you to understand the steps involved and talk you through your options, the effects this might have on state benefits and tax and your obligations. And of course they can also explain the full benefits of equity release.
Done correctly, equity release should have no impact on an individual’s tax position or their state benefits, however each individual’s circumstances need to be assessed It is important to remember that equity release, as with any other financial service product, is not right for all people at all times.
It is important that you ensure you receive specifically qualified financial and legal advice, and that you deal with regulated companies who are members of the Equity Release Council, so that you can have peace of mind that you hve the right product, with the right protections, for you. We can put you in touch with Qualified Advisors, who can offer unrestricted advice, and are accredited by The Society of Later Life, SOLLA.
Care Fees Planning
Specialist advice and information is crucial when planning for long term care and other aspects of retirement. Many questions arise around the subjects of Wills, Powers of Attorney, Pensions, Guardianships, Trusts, Inheritance Tax Planning, Executries and Equity Release. Paying for long term care is a major concern, care can be costly, complicated and emotional and has the potential to diminish finances like nothing else.
There are various financial planning strategies that can be adopted in order to help preserve savings to benefit future generations, such as family discretionary trusts, transfer of titles or care plans, whatever the issue, they are all very complex and must be tailored to the individual’s circumstances.
There are many options for funding long-term care and they can often be complicated to understand. So if you or a loved one need to pay for care at home or in a care home, it’s important to know the facts.
- How much will you need to pay for long-term care
- NHS continuing healthcare
- Local authority funding for long-term care
- Self-funding your long-term care
- Claim the benefits you’re entitled to
Murdoch Stewarts works closely with independent financial services and investments advisors, and can also advise on all off the above issues.
Where the deceased has left no Will the executry procedure is slightly different. Where there is no Will the estate is termed as an Intestate Estate. The first difference in procedure is that as there is no Will there will be no Executor appointed. We must therefore apply to the Sheriff Court to obtain an order appointing an Executor. The Executor in most cases will be the next of kin. Once the Executor has been appointed the procedure mirrors that of a Testate Estate, in that an inventory has to be compiled detailing all assets and liabilities. Before applying to the Sheriff Court for Confirmation, however, in an Intestate Estate you have to obtain a Bond of Caution.
It is an insurance policy to protect the Executors against distributing the estate to the incorrect beneficiaries. For example it may transpire after the distribution of the whole deceased’s estate to two sons that in fact there were in fact three sons. The third son will have lost out on his entitlement to the estate. The Bond of Caution will protect the Executor in this instance and settle the third son’s share of the estate. Once Bond of Caution has been obtained Confirmation will be applied for and the estate can be ingathered just as it is in a Testate Estate. Once we are ready to distribute the estate we obviously can’t do it according to the terms of the Will but instead we must distribute according to the Intestacy Laws of Scotland. In both Testate and Intestate Estates there may be Inheritance Tax to be paid.
All Executry estates over a certain level are liable to pay Inheritance Tax. The Inheritance Tax calculation is often very complex. This tax has to be paid within six months of the date of death or interest will start accruing. We will arrange for this to be paid timeously. A question that is often asked is how long it will take until the estate can be distributed. It is impossible to give an exact answer. Due to Law Society guidelines we are unable to distribute the estate until six months have elapsed from the date of death. If the estate is small and uncomplicated then it should be distributed after six months. A larger estate can take up to a year to be wound up but in some complicated estates it can take even longer than this.
Call for a FIXED FEE Quotation.