One of the most effective ways you can manage your estate planning is through setting up a trust. The structures into which you can transfer your assets can have lasting consequences for you and your family, so it is important that you obtain professional advice, as the right structures can protect assets and give your family lasting benefits.
If there’s no valid Will
When you die, your estate has to be distributed one way or another. If you have a Will, your executors have to gain a Grant of Probate in England and Wales or Northern Ireland (a Grant of Confirmation in Scotland). If there’s no valid Will, or the named executors in the Will are unwilling or unable to carry out their duties, a Grant of Letters of Administration is needed. This is known as ‘dying intestate’.
Planning your finances in advance should help you ensure that when you die, everything you own goes where you want it to. Making a Will is the first step in ensuring that your estate is shared out exactly as you want it to be.
When someone living abroad dies, the rules for paying Inheritance Tax usually depend on:
Reducing an Inheritance Tax – it’s good to give
A n estate can pay Inheritance Tax at a reduced rate of 36% on some assets (instead of 40%) if 10% or more of the ‘net value’ of their estate is left to charity.
Assets that pass on free of Inheritance Tax
Inheritance Tax reliefs allow some assets to be passed on free of IHT or with a reduced bill.
HM Revenue & Customs allows you to make a number of small gifts each year without creating an Inheritance Tax liability. Remember, each person has their own allowance, so the amount can be doubled if each spouse or registered civil partner uses their allowances. You can also make larger gifts, but these are known as ‘Potentially Exempt Transfers’ (PETs), and you could have to pay IHT on their value if you die within seven years of making them.
Usually the ‘executor’ of the Will or the ‘administrator’ of the estate pays Inheritance Tax using funds from the estate.
With careful planning and professional financial advice, it is possible to take preventative action to either reduce your beneficiaries’ potential Inheritance Tax bill or mitigate it out altogether.
Inheritance Tax matters
Inheritance Tax was introduced in the UK in 1796 and stemmed from the influence of the French Revolution. The concept of IHT was supposed to protect poorer members of society and interrupt the legacy of inherited wealth.