Asset Protection & Trusts
Financial security in retirement is rarely something you can leave to chance – and many of our clients find it reassuring to use us as a ‘family solicitor’.
That role extends beyond drafting wills to the provision of clear and impartial advice on how best to provide for your own and your dependants’ future.
An asset can be anything you own, and for many people their main asset is their home. We can help you plan ahead and advise you on the best ways to protect your assets, either for your own future, or to secure your children’s inheritance.
This is a complex area, and there are a variety of trusts which can be used during your lifetime as well as upon death.
If you are planning for your future for care home fees, there are ways around protecting your assets to cover a potential shortfall in income.
In the context of a second marriage or relationship, your wishes may be for your new spouse or partner to be the main beneficiary of your will, but upon their death, that your children inherit your estate. These wishes can be covered in an appropriately worded will or trust.
You may also want to protect a vulnerable or young person through a discretionary or protective trust.
Our advice may also involve drafting and setting up family trusts and lasting powers of attorney (LPA) so that your chosen representatives can make decisions and act for you if you become unable to do so.
Whilst this is a complex area, with careful planning we can help you achieve a high degree of asset protection, providing both security and peace of mind for the future.
An example of asset protection to plan for the future:
A married couple has a house worth £250,000 and savings of £50,000. They wish to preserve as much of their estate as possible for their children. They know that in the future should they need residential or nursing care, they will have an income shortfall of £30-40,000 per annum, so in 12 years the value of their estate will be gone.
To ensure that their estate won’t be eroded, they give each other a life interest trust which means that on the first death, their estate will pass to their spouse and on second death passes to the children. If Mum dies, half the house is in trust and therefore protected and cannot be used for care home fees.