We help UK residents with over £1 million in current assets pay ZERO in inheritance tax

£ 80M+

Saved

If you live 7 years implementing our advice we can help you eliminate your inheritance tax and probably save you significant income tax too.

200+

Happy Clients

We help you to grow, manage and protect your wealth. Our specialist inheritance tax service is designed to give you financial peace of mind.

20+

Years of Experience

Our 20+ years experience of working with high net worth clients means we rarely meet a client we cannot help.

Our Offering

Inheritance Tax Planning

Inheritance Tax Specialist Services

Like all tax planning, inheritance tax planning is much more complex than many people appreciate. Solicitors deal with the legal aspects, Accountants with the tax aspects and Financial Planners with plans that help avoid inheritance tax.

Wills & Estate Planning

Estate Planning & Inheritance Tax

If you die without a Will, numerous delays and problems can arise regarding the distribution of your assets. Without a Will, the statutory Intestacy rules apply and determine who will inherit your wealth – which can seriously affect the position of a spouse or unmarried partner. Even if you do not believe you will have an inheritance tax problem, Estate planning is still a sensible process to go through. At the very least, it ensures that the correct people receive the assets that you eventually want to pass on.

Trust Planning

Setting up a Trust Fund to avoid Inheritance Tax

Trusts are generally legally referred to as Settlements. Trusts are a separate legal entity, so any assets gifted to a Trust will fall outside of your Estate after seven years. As Trusts can be complex in their legal wording, we use some of the best Lawyers in the country to draft them.

Family Investment Companies

Create Family Investment Companies

If you have a rental property portfolio of over six properties or investments of over £2 million ( excluding pensions ) a Family Investment Company might be suitable for you. Watch the videos below to learn more.

How We Work

Our IHT PlanningSystems

We work with people who expect their estates on the death of both partners to reach in excess of £1 million.

  • We apply a holistic approach to estate and tax planning – treating all aspects of your financial life as part of a connected plan – recognising the connections and where possible, finding solutions that deal with more than just a single issue.
  • We provide you with a comprehensive plan to eliminate your inheritance tax and reduce other taxes. We recommend our high-quality partner Lawyers and Tax Advisers for any specialist work required to implement your plan.

Advanced Tax Planning System

We offer comprehensive tax planning service suitable for most clients.

  • We offer a review of your overall tax position to establish how best you can rearrange your financial affairs to avoid as much tax as possible.
  • We work together with a number of highly qualified tax accountants and tax Lawyers to provide tax solutions for people who have generated high potential liabilities in most types of tax, including corporation tax.
  • The service aims to reduce your overall tax liability by the use of both straightforward and more complex tax planning advice.

Inheritance Tax Elimination Process

After providing you with our advice, we will help you implement all aspects of your plan that you wish to progress with.

  • Any regulated financial advice will not be provided by Bluebond but by a separate FCA regulated company.
  • The legal work is done by our recommended Lawyers.
  • Specialist tax work like setting up Limited Liability Partnerships,  Family Investment Companies and Employee Benefit Trusts are done by Bluebond Tax Solutions Ltd.

Why Choose Us

  • The emphasis we place on life planning for the future and regularly reviewing your situation.

  • Our long-term approach to client relationships – you will always deal with the same Adviser unless you agree to a change.

  • High quality staff to ensure a higher than usual level of service – we are prepared to accept a lower profit margin to achieve this.

  • A highly structured approach to the way we carry out any analytical work on your behalf.

  • Early adoption of the latest technology and approaches to business systems – we have developed our own unique computer software tools to help us ensure you receive an efficient and effective service.

  • Our range of skills and experience – our Advisers have more than 20 years’ experience in the tax planning profession.

  • Our programme of continuous professional development and determination to be competent, reliable, proactive and helpful.

  • All our fees are pre-agreed with you so you know exactly what it will cost you before we start working on your behalf.

  • The emphasis we place on life planning for the future and regularly reviewing your situation.

  • Our long-term approach to client relationships – you will always deal with the same Adviser unless you agree to a change.

  • High quality staff to ensure a higher than usual level of service – we are prepared to accept a lower profit margin to achieve this.

  • A highly structured approach to the way we carry out any analytical work on your behalf.

  • Early adoption of the latest technology and approaches to business systems – we have developed our own unique computer software tools to help us ensure you receive an efficient and effective service.

  • Our range of skills and experience – our Advisers have more than 20 years’ experience in the tax planning profession.

  • Our programme of continuous professional development and determination to be competent, reliable, proactive and helpful.

  • All our fees are pre-agreed with you so you know exactly what it will cost you before we start working on your behalf.

Our Services

1

You pay a onetime initial engagement fee of £497 with a money back satisfaction guarantee

2

We collect all your financial information

3

We provide a written comprehensive report of how to resolve your IHT problems which outlines your relevant implementation fees in detail

4

You will be given access to our in-depth client education portal

5

We provide UNLIMITED personal 1-1 online meeting to answer all your questions

1

Setting up an Estate planning structure of Wills and Trusts

2

Arranging Lasting Powers of Attorney

3

Arranging standalone Wills

4

Arranging Deeds of Variation

5

Implementing Probate

1

Advising on and setting up Limited liability partnerships (LLPs) and Family investment companies (FICs) for Landlords

2

Advising on and setting up Family investment companies for investors

3

Advising on and setting up Employee Benefit Trusts

4

Proactive business, property, trusts, investments and personal annual tax reviews for our clients

5

Advising on and setting up of Excluded property trusts

Money Back Guarantee

We want to show how serious we are about our client satisfaction by “putting our money where our mouths are“.

We believe we offer amazing value for money based on the results that you will achieve by working with us. We are so confident in our programme that we offer a full money back written guarantee on your initial advice fees if you are not delighted with the results.

Resource

What Our Clients Say

I am writing to thank you for your help on our inheritance tax and estate planning. It is nice to know that we can now be certain that our daughter will inherit our money without giving a large slice of it to the government – unless we decide to spend it first.

It is also nice to know that we have effectively avoided all our inheritance tax liabilities so we can relax in our retirement.

I would also like to thank you and your team for the excellent service you have given us over the last 3 years, and I would be delighted to unreservedly recommend your company’s service.

-Tony & Sue Perriss

IHT and Estate planning

I am writing this letter to thank you and your staff for the excellent job you have done over the last few years on my inheritance tax planning.

It is gratifying to finally come across an adviser who gives sensible ongoing advice which is very client focused. In our case in particular, it is nice to know that we now have high degree of certainty on our  inheritance tax liabilities for the future.

I would also like to mention the support of your team and the friendly and efficient manner in which they deal with our affairs. If you would ever like me to make a recommendation of your firm’s services to any other clients, I would be more than happy to do so.

-Frank Hibberd

Retired – IHT advice

We would like to thank you for the work you have done for us over the past years. The telephone call in the summer of 2015 inviting us to attend one of your seminars was timely as we had realised we must do something about our inheritance tax problem.

The seminar was informative and the subsequent meetings we have had with you have been excellent. We thank you for your patience in explaining things several times over as we tried to grasp and understand the intricacies of inheritance tax and how to mitigate the effect on our estate. We look forward to working with you for many years

-D & T Pattie

Retired Couple –
IHT advice

We would like to thank you for the work you have done for us over the past years. The telephone call in the summer of 2015 inviting us to attend one of your seminars was timely as we had realised we must do something about our inheritance tax problem.

The seminar was informative and the subsequent meetings we have had with you have been excellent. We thank you for your patience in explaining things several times over as we tried to grasp and understand the intricacies of inheritance tax and how to mitigate the effect on our estate. We look forward to working with you for many years

-D & T Pattie

Retired Couple – IHT advice

Many thanks for concluding my Trust planning this year.

I particularly want to thank you for the open and transparent manner in which you have serviced my tax planning needs since I first met you seven or so years ago. In arranging my tax planning through you, I have confidence that your advice will not be tainted by any bias. Your straightforward approach gives me confidence that you will be on “my side” when making any recommendations to me. In the past, rather than compromise on your recommendations, you have negotiated a suitable fee with me to ensure you are not disadvantaged by making the best possible recommendation.

Once again, thanks for all your help

-Michael Mahon

High earner recently retired

As we approach the next review of our tax planning, I felt it was time to put in writing how very satisfied we have been with your advice and action on our behalf over the past years.

We first met with you at a time when retirement was no longer something happening in the dim and distant future, but soon enough for us to make important decisions regarding our security in our years after the age of sixty-five. The result has been to enable us not only to make sensible lifestyle decisions but also to spend on ourselves in order to keep up our quality of life before retirement.

-Tony & Sue Perriss

IHT and Estate planning

Meet Our Team

-Charles de Lastic

Managing Director

-Ava Vinokourova

Legal and Tax Adviser

-Heather de Lastic

Finance Director

-Ashwini Reddeppa

Paraplanner and administrator

FAQs

What is Inheritance tax planning?

Inheritance Tax planning is a process used to avoid inheritance tax on your estate on your death. As a rough guide, if your assets exceed £325,000 (known as the Nil Rate Band or NRB) the excess will be taxed at 40%.If you are married or widowed, your executors can now claim two allowances thus meaning you do not have a problem if you die with assets below £650,000. Of course, it is not as simple as this. If you own a home, you will have an additional allowance called the residential nil rate band which will be £175,000 per person by 6th April 2020.

How is Inheritance Tax paid?

Inheritance Tax (IHT) is usually only payable on the second death within a married couple providing suitable Wills have been drawn up leaving the excess over the NRB to the surviving spouse.
As IHT is charged on the second death you should, of course, do some projections as to what your estate will be worth at that time as in many cases your estate value grows faster than the NRB allowances.
In many cases, where property or properties in the south of the UK are the main assets, the IHT liability can almost double every 10 -12 years.

What are Inheritance Tax rules?

The rules regarding inheritance tax were changed in October 2006 and so if you have not had your existing Wills reviewed since that time is advised to do so. All new clients who proceed with our Advanced Wealth Protection Plan will have new wills included as part of the plan.
Most people fail to project forward the value of their assets over the time of their perceived lifetimes and so believe they will not have a large IHT liability. This is a serious error – Take the time to get the projections or engage us to do them for you.

Inheritance Tax and Trusts?

Trusts are usually a better route than Life Insurance as they enable you and your beneficiaries to not only avoid the inheritance tax after seven years but also help keep control of the assets in the event of divorce or bankruptcy of your children. If set up correctly, they can also help avoid care home fees.
However, before you give assets away, you need to ensure that you are financially secure for the rest of your natural life. The good news is that money placed into a trust can also continue to supply you with an income stream for life. An experienced inheritance tax and Estate Planning Adviser is essential for your peace of mind in this area.

How is Inheritance Tax Calculated?

As inheritance tax Advisers, we have a specialist inheritance Tax calculator which we use to help clients and prospective clients get a much better idea of their actual probable liability. From this point of true calculation, it’s better to determine the most suitable strategies to resolve the inheritance tax problem.

Rule of thumb if you do not have access to this software: Use this link to calculate your IHT and once you have calculated your liability ( if most of your money is in your home ) double it every 10 years to give yourself a better idea. However, you should speak with us directly for a more accurate understanding.

Is Inheritance Tax likely to affect me?

  • As a rough guide, if your assets exceed £325,000 (known as the Nil Rate Band or NRB)  the excess will be taxed at 40%. If you are married or widowed your executors can now claim two allowances thus meaning you do not have a problem if you die with assets below £650,000. Of course, it is not as simple as this. If you own a home you will have an additional allowance called the residential nil rate band which will be £175,000 per person by 6th April 2020.

  • IHT is usually only payable on the second death within a married couple providing suitable Wills have been drawn up leaving the excess over the NRB to the surviving spouse.

  • As IHT is charged on the second death, you should, of course, do some projections as to what your estate will be worth at that time as in many cases your estate value grows faster than the NRB allowances. In many cases, where property or properties in the south of the UK are the main assets, the IHT liability can almost double every 10 -12 years.

  • Most people fail to project forward the value of their assets over the time of their perceived lifetimes, and so believe they will not have a large IHT liability. This is a serious error – take the time to get the projections or call or email us and we can do them for you.

Is the Will Trust the right solution for me?

It is unlikely.  A Will Trust may only be worthwhile if you think that your total assets will be under the Nil Rate Band (currently £325,000 – 2010/2011) on the death of the second person if you are married or in a civil partnership.
If you are wealthy retired, a small business owner, or part of the millionaire asset group with an asset base currently in excess of £1 million, we believe that you should seek professional experienced inheritance tax advice before proceeding with this option to see if it’s really right for you.  A simple Will can be limiting, for both you, your surviving spouse and your children, and will not make use of some large potential tax savings.

Why should I make a Will?

No one likes either talking or thinking about death. However, it is an inevitability that we all face and we would all like to make our passing easier for our surviving loved ones. To this end, everyone over the age of 18 years should make a Will and check periodically that it remains up to date and reflects their current situation.

I've already got a Will Trust written, do I need to do anything?

Yes.  You probably need to relook at your Will as laws around Will Trusts have altered.  If you made your Will prior to April 2007, then you definitely need to reassess it, ideally with the help of an experienced Adviser.
Please also take a look at your expected assets for the future.  If you think that when you (or both of you if you are married) die that your assets will be valued in excess of the current Nil Rate Band, or indeed, in excess of £1 million, then you really should consider alternative Lifetime Family Trusts.
Good inheritance tax advice and tax advice as part of an overall financial plan are well worth looking into. An experienced inheritance tax Adviser is essential for this.

Why can't I just write my own Will and do my Estate planning myself?

You can if you choose to.  The question is, ‘is this sensible practice?’ – even if you are not part of the wealthy retired. If your Estate is likely to be valued (at a minimum), in excess of £50,000, then the relatively small amount it would cost to correctly write your Will is worthwhile to avoid any possible challenges by other people in the future.

What is an Executor?

Any person over 18 can be the Executor of the Will. When a person dies, the Executor is obliged to deal with their Estate ensuring that their Will, assuming they had one, is adhered to.
It is the Executor’s responsibility to make sure the deceased’s Estate is correctly valued for inheritance tax purposes and that any outstanding tax bill is paid. If there’s no will, or those named are unwilling or unable to fulfil the role,  a court may appoint an administrator in their place.
In England and Wales, an Executor can be held personally financially liable for any loss that a breach of their duty incurs, regardless of whether the error was inadvertent or intentional.
Executors are obliged to disclose all known information about the Estate of the deceased, typically income from bank accounts, liabilities from credit cards, utility bills and other outstanding debts.

What is Probate?

Probate is the term used when talking about applying for the right to deal with a deceased person’s affairs.  A grant of Probate is almost always needed when the person who dies leaves one or more of the following:

  • £5,000 of assets

  • Stocks or shares

  • Certain insurance policies

  • Property or land

Probate won’t be granted until some or all of any inheritance tax that is due on the Estate has been paid. Instead of appointing a Solicitor as an Executor or Trustee, a charging clause would allow your Executors to employ a professional Solicitor or company to undertake those parts of the Probate process that they do not want to deal with, or have insufficient knowledge to deal with.  A charging clause will allow the Executors to take the charges of the Solicitor or company from the Estate rather than paying the fees themselves.

What is a Trust?

A Trust is a legal arrangement where the person or persons who own an asset can transfer the ownership to Beneficiaries of the Trust (usually their children or grandchildren). The distribution of capital or income is controlled by the Trustees. The Trustees are usually the parents and sometimes also the adult children. These adult children can be both Trustees and Beneficiaries.

Who is involved in setting up a Trust?

There are normally three parties involved in setting up a Trust:

1. TheSettlor.  The Settlor sets up the initial asset e.g. an insurance or pension contract and then transfer the control of the assets to the Trustee.
2. The Trustee.  The Trustee is the legal owner of the assets and holds and manages them for the benefit of the Beneficiaries.
3. The Beneficiaries.  The Beneficiaries are the individuals or groups of people selected by the Settlor to receive the benefits of the Trust.

Difference between Will and a Trust

The rules regarding inheritance tax were changed in October 2006 and so if you have not had your existing Wills reviewed since that time is advised to do so. All new clients who proceed with our Advanced Wealth Protection Plan will have new wills included as part of the plan.
Most people fail to project forward the value of their assets over the time of their perceived lifetimes and so believe they will not have a large IHT liability. This is a serious error – Take the time to get the projections or engage us to do them for you.

Wills

Trusts

Only effective on death

Wills only come into effect on death and therefore are at risk from changes in legislation.

Immediately effective

Trusts provide certainty, as they are immediately effective. Changes in legislation will not normally affect existing Trusts.

Probate still needed

Even when a person has made a Will, Probate is still needed.

No Probate

Assets under a Trust are not subject to the delay of Probate, as long as there is a surviving Trustee. Extra legal costs are usually involved in running a Trust.

Extended administration

With the assistance of one of our strategic partners, we can help you arrange a Will that is correctly worded. We can also help you plan your investments.

Simplified administration

With a Trust IT is possible to organize investment and Estate planning together-we offer different Trusts for different asset classes.

Public

Wills become public on death, so everyone can see who received what.  This is not ideal in complex family situations.

Confidential

Trusts are confidential. Details are not available to the public.

Can you, the Settlor, benefit from the Trust?

If you are a settlor you cannot benefit from your own Trust. If you did benefit, the assets in the Trust will have the Gifts with Reservation of Benefit rules applied by HMRC and so the Trust would fail to avoid inheritance tax. Once you die your widow or widower can benefit from certain Trusts.

What happens if the Beneficiary dies?

As potential Beneficiaries of a Discretionary Trust do not have a right to the Trust assets if a Beneficiary dies, none of the value of the Trust property will be included in his or her Estate for IHT purposes.  This would not be the case had an Interest in Possession Trust been used.

Can the Settlor change the Beneficiaries?

The Trustees will have total control over the Trust funds and the discretion to pay out monies to whomever they feel it appropriate, from the various classes of Beneficiaries.
This means that should any Beneficiary in the future be in receipt of state or local authority benefits, the entitlement to money from the Trust fund will not stop these benefits being paid to the Beneficiary. Of course, there is a further benefit which means that should your spouse/partner become involved in any further relationship following your death, the assets within the Discretionary Trust will be protected from this third party acquiring them.

Can the Settlor end a Trust

Once you have written a policy under Trust, you have no power to end the Trust other than in your capacity as a Trustee.  The only action you can take is to stop paying the premiums for affected policies.
The Trustees may be able to advance all the Trust property to Beneficiaries so nothing is left in the Trust, thus bringing it to an end.

Do I need advice to setup a Trust?

Yes, Trusts, as you can see from all of the above, can be complex and require experienced advice and help to obtain the many benefits they provide.