Gillian heads our Private Wealth & Tax and Charities teams in the north of Scotland. She advises individuals, families, businesses, landowners and trustees on a wide range of matters. Specialising in tax-planning, she also has significant expertise in complex executry work and contentious estates. She often works closely with our Agricultural and Rural, Corporate and Real Estate teams, and with other trusted advisers such as accountants and financial planners.
Gillian is a fully qualified member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), the global professional association for specialists in family inheritance and succession-planning, and holds the STEP advanced certificate in UK tax for international clients. She has also been a tutor – on the Private Client course at the University of Strathclyde, and on the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice courses at Robert Gordon University and the University of Aberdeen.
- Acting for a private client in relation to asset protection in connection with a farming partnership, and advising on tax implications and succession-planning options using trusts.
- Advising a high-net-worth client in relation to succession-planning, including transfers and gifts (absolute gifts and gifts to trust)
- Advising an ultra-high-net-worth private client in relation to the incorporation of a family investment company and subsequent succession-planning advice.
- Advising a private client in relation to an asset review, including a property in Canada, and producing a full inheritance tax report on the implications of the management of particular assets within wills.
- Advising a private client in relation to a full inheritance tax review of assets, and assessment of the application of business and agricultural relief.
- Advising a private client in relation to asset protection options as regards their home, including the tax and compliance implications of each option.
- Advising a private client in relation to philanthropic giving, during their lifetime and on death.
- Acting for a private client in the establishment and ongoing administration of a charitable foundation.
