Wills and Estate Planning

Estate planning services and advice

Estate planning is at the heart of the work we do for our clients and is specific to each client and their objectives. It often involves arranging our clients’ long-term financial affairs to meet their wishes, in a tax-efficient manner and, where possible, to provide asset protection for them and future generations.

We advise on all aspects of inheritance tax (IHT), capital gains tax (CGT) and income tax for both UK resident and non-resident individuals.

Estate planning for business owners

Many of our clients have valuable interests in businesses. Estate planning for business owners is often complex and necessitates considering various taxes (inheritance tax and capital gains tax being key), reliefs such as Business Relief (formerly Business Property Relief) and factoring in any exit plans, succession planning and broader family interests. Our team understands the needs of entrepreneurs, the technical issues involved and how to create practical solutions which are effective.

Lifetime estate planning strategies can involve gifts and the establishment of family trusts. We also ensure that life policies and pension benefits are dealt with appropriately. We also advise upon sophisticated structures such as family investment and personal finance companies.

Philanthropy and gifts

Charitable gifting can also form part of an ongoing estate and tax planning exercise. This might involve establishing your own grant making charity during lifetime or on death, bequests to charity on death to reduce the overall rate of inheritance tax for the estate from 40% to 36%, or maximising gift aid relief on lifetime gifts to charity (including gifts of assets in specie).

It is vital to ensure that your Wills are up to date to reflect your wishes, considering any lifetime planning that has already been undertaken.  If comprehensive lifetime planning is being undertaken, a Will is sometimes viewed as a back stop. It is important to have a Will in place to ensure that your wishes are met in as tax efficient a manner as possible and leaving your executors and beneficiaries with as few headaches as possible.

Understanding inheritance tax

Inheritance tax is payable on the estate of someone who has died and is currently levied at a rate of 40% above a person’s tax-free nil rate band of £325,000. There are many reliefs and exemptions which may be of use in managing an individual’s exposure to inheritance tax.  We have considerable knowledge of these exemptions and reliefs to assist with lifetime planning, for example tax efficient gifts, the use of trusts or other entities and the structuring of your Will.

Making and maintaining a Will

Statistically, up to 50% of the population do not currently have a Will. There are many life events that may prompt you to want to make a Will, including marriage, the birth of a child or grandchildren, a life changing event such as an inheritance, or the sale of your business.

As part of Meridian’s estate planning service, or as a standalone exercise, we can prepare Wills to ensure that an individual’s assets are dealt with in accordance with their wishes, whilst ensuring everything is dealt with as tax efficiently as possible.

We have significant experience in this area, with most of our team STEP qualified practitioners. We appreciate that no one person is alike, and our Wills are bespoke documents tailored to an individual’s circumstances. Whilst tax efficiencies are often a primary objective, we always take account of family circumstances, your overriding objectives and the practicalities of implementing the terms of your Will when recommending what type of Will is appropriate.

Succession planning and cross-border estates

We understand that in the modern world, Wills are increasingly complex. They may need to deal with assets in other jurisdictions, or dovetail with existing non-UK Wills.

Your Will may also need to cater for the succession of your business, whether within the family or setting out provision for it to be suitably managed for sale after death. Wills often need to cater for conflicting family interests, obligations you may have under pre-nuptial agreements or divorce settlements, or work in conjunction with the succession provided for under family trusts and offshore structures.

We act as professional executor and trustee for many clients.  We appreciate the importance of working closely with the surviving family at a difficult time and can help navigate the complexities of inheritance tax reporting and administrative responsibilities, ensuring our knowledge of the client’s affairs and their wishes is central when administering their estate.

Resolving a dispute with a Will

The drafting of a Will can sometimes go wrong and we understand that this can cause a great deal of stress for all concerned.

Our inhouse Disputes team has vast experience in dealing with all the problems that can arise from Will and estate disputes and how they can be resolved.  We can also give advice on how to deal with this as part of the administration process and other steps that can be taken to rectify the position, such as the creation of deeds of variation.

Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA)

As part of the estate planning process, we can prepare lasting powers of attorney, commonly referred to as LPAs.

These are becoming increasingly important with both financial institutions and health care providers, such as hospitals and care homes, alert to capacity issues and how that affects their relationship with individual customers.

There are two types of LPA, one which deals with property and financial affairs, the other with health and welfare.  It is common to put both types of LPA in place at the same time even though it is not necessary for the attorney(s) to be the same for both types of LPA.

We can provide advice on how to tailor the LPAs to cater for your individual preferences and instructions. The appointment of an attorney carries significant duties and obligations, and we can help guide you and your chosen attorneys on what is involved.

Where business interests are concerned, it is not uncommon to have separate LPAs to deal with business interests and personal financial interests. Again, we can advise when this might be necessary and how to ensure the different LPAs work in conjunction with each other.

General and trustee powers of attorney

Our private client team can advise individuals on putting in place general powers of attorney to deal with specific issues and transactions. This also applies to executors and trustees requiring advice and guidance when putting in place trustee powers of attorney.

Occasionally, problems do arise with powers of attorney, whether in the original drafting or because one of the attorneys has not acted how they were supposed to. In those circumstances, we can advise on how issues can be rectified.

Court of Protection and deputyships

Where a client has unfortunately already lost mental capacity so that LPAs cannot be put in place, we can make an application to the Court of Protection to arrange for a deputyship order to be put in place. A deputyship order is akin to a power of attorney. It grants the appointed deputy the power to make decisions regarding finances and health of the client, however it is much more strictly controlled by the courts.