Trusts
Trusts can play an important role in achieving many objectives, including protecting assets, succession management, and improving tax-efficiency. We help our clients to maximise the benefits and avoid the potential pitfalls.

Trusts are often associated with inheritance tax planning, but in fact they are useful in many other situations too. Another advantage – indeed the key one for many people – is that they provide a lot of control, which can be important when considering succession planning and how to protect young or vulnerable beneficiaries. The person who sets it up decides the terms of the trust and who the trustees will be; the trust’s assets are legally owned by those trustees rather than by the individual beneficiaries.

We can give you the advice you need to decide whether or not a trust is the right option for you. And because many of our lawyers are dual-qualified, we can help you whether you have assets in Scotland, England & Wales, or both.

There are a number of important decisions to make when setting up a trust; we will give you the clear and practical guidance you need. We will then draft the necessary documents to ensure that the tax advantages and other features that you want do actually materialise in practice, and we can also advise you on any necessary amendments to your will.

Our trusts team offers a full service after the initial stage too, including preparing annual accounts and tax returns, and advice on governance and compliance. This is a complex area of law, and trustees have considerable compliance obligations, so it is vital to ensure that they understand them and consistently fulfil them.

Our expertise includes:

Initial set-up
Guidance for trustees on their legal duties
Preparation of annual accounts and tax returns
Tax advice
Compliance

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Christopher McGill

Partner

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TrustsTrusts can play an important role in achieving many objectives, including protecting assets, succession management, and improving tax-efficiency. We help our clients to maximise the benefits and avoid the potential pitfalls.

Our expertise includes:

Christopher McGill

Alexis Graham

Gillian Campbell

Eleanor Kerr

Meet our full team

Jacqueline Arthur

Julie Bankier

Laura Barron

Heather Bird

Alanna Buchan

Gillian Campbell

Erin Connor

Alexis Graham

Emma Grunenberg

Eleanor Kerr

Christopher McGill

Keith McLaren

Pamela McMillan

Malcolm Rust

Erin Ryan

George Stevenson

Christopher McGill

Alexis Graham

Gillian Campbell

Eleanor Kerr

Christopher McGill

Alexis Graham

Gillian Campbell

Eleanor Kerr

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Trusts
Trusts can play an important role in achieving many objectives, including protecting assets, succession management, and improving tax-efficiency. We help our clients to maximise the benefits and avoid the potential pitfalls.