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
Meet our key contacts
Christopher McGill
Partner
Alexis Graham
Partner
Gillian Campbell
Partner
Eleanor Kerr
Partner
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Contact us
Christopher McGill
Partner
Alexis Graham
Partner
Gillian Campbell
Partner
Eleanor Kerr
Partner
