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bristol wills & estate planning

Protect your property for future generations

Put your house in a Lifetime Trust from a Bristol-based Will Writing service

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Bespoke service

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local will writer

Without a Trust, your family’s inheritance is at risk

If you have a simple Will, or no Will, your loved ones will inherit outright. But this can cause problems such as:

Child gets divorced and loses half their inheritance

House can’t be sold due to lengthy probate delays

Your house is sold to pay for long-term care fees

Children living abroad could pay extra tax

Your partner remarries, disinheriting children

More inheritance tax to pay for future generations

Get maximum protection with a Lifetime Trust

  • Avoids probate and ensures your house can be sold straight away.
  • Flexible to adapt to changing circumstances.
  • Protects the asset from threats in your lifetime.
Happy family with father, mother and children who have made a Lifetime Trust
Cover of a factsheet about Lifetime Trusts

For more information, download free factsheets on Lifetime Trusts, Wills, Lasting Power of Attorney, inheritance tax and other aspects of estate planning.

The easy way to get a Lifetime Trust in Bristol

Image of a wooden house model with a padlock around it to show protection from a Lifetime Trust.
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FREE APPOINTMENT

The first meeting is a free-of-charge discussion about your aims and circumstances.

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quick and easy

It takes a couple of hours to capture all the details we need to set up your Asset Protection Trust.

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no hidden costs

We’ll tell you the total cost of the Asset Protection Trust up front, before you commit to anything.

Trust terms explained

What is a Lifetime Trust?

A Trust that you get up and running now, i.e., during your lifetime. It is different to a Trust in a Will, which is only active after your death.

What is an Asset Protection Trust?

This is a product name for a Lifetime Trust that can hold assets, most commonly your house but can include money as well.

Three steps to setting up a Lifetime Trust

1

  BOOK AN APPOINTMENT

Pick a time and date to suit your diary.

2

  DISCUSS YOUR NEEDS

Tell us your aims and circumstances.

3

  SIGN YOUR TRUST

It’s legal once signed and witnessed.

Let me simplify Lifetime Trusts for you

I know that Lifetime Trusts can be confusing.

You might have been thinking about getting a simple Will. But you’ve read about Trusts and now you have more questions than answers.

That’s why I’ll start with a chat about your aims to find out if a Lifetime Trust is right for you. You can always get a simple Will if you prefer (or do nothing at all).

If you are interested, it’s best to do it sooner rather than later. Just as it’s too late to buy an insurance policy if your house is on fire, you can’t get maximum protection from a Trust if you leave it too late.

As a member of the Institute of Professional Willwriters (IPW), I receive regular training so I’ll be able to give you up-to-date advice.

Graham Southorn, Will Writer with Bristol Wills

Graham Southorn, MIPW

Bristol Wills & Estate Planning is proud to be a member of:

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Google reviews from people we’ve helped

Great service and everything was made very quick and easy.

Sarah

Excellent service and an efficient and easy process.

Tom

Graham made the whole process simple and straightforward while being ultra helpful and informative.

Steve

Prudent estate planning involves more than Trusts

Lasting Power of Attorney

Support an elderly person by using Lasting Power of Attorney.

Help your loved ones to take care of you.

Inheritance Tax planning

Inheritance Tax represented by coins

Avoid inheritance tax by planning ahead.

Wills

Two Last Will and Testament documents with ribbon and the names of the testators blurred out.

Help your family by making your wishes clear.

How Lifetime Trusts work

Trusts can seem complicated but the basic idea is simple.

Instead of giving an asset directly to another person, as you would in a Will, an Asset Protection Trust allows you to give it to trustees to manage.

This happens during your lifetime.

The Trustees you appoint must make joint decisions, which is where the protection comes in. That’s why the trustees need to be able to work together.

Typically, people choose family members and friends to be their trustees. Often, it’s possible for you to be a trustee of your own Asset Protection Trust.

For added peace of mind, you can appoint a professional trustee. This person can offer an impartial, independent perspective if there are likely to be family tensions.

But why go to all this bother? Why not just give your house to your children and still carry on living in it?

Many people think that giving their house to children is a way to avoid inheritance tax and care fees. But it isn’t because:

  1. To avoid inheritance tax you would have to pay your children a market rent, reviewable every year. Otherwise, HMRC will say that your estate is still liable for inheritance tax.
  2. A local council is likely to see the gift as “deliberate deprivation” when it comes to assessing the value of your assets for care fees.

It is also a very bad idea because:

  1. You could fall out with your children. They now own the house and could make your life difficult.
  2. Your children could die before you. Their spouse or children could inherit the house and want to sell.

A Lifetime Trust avoids these problems.

In addition, the house does not have to pass through probate when you die.

This avoids lengthy delays in the probate process and means that a house can be sold straight away. All it needs is the trustees’ signatures.

    Martin Lewis on Will writing, Powers of Attorney and Inheritance Tax

    Catch up with the Martin Lewis Money Show Live covering difficult conversations around divorce, death and dementia.

    You can stream it on ITVX and read my transcript and review of the show here.

     

    Don’t put it off!