Discretionary Trusts; An Alternative To Prenups?

Have you thought about using a discretionary trust created in your lifetime as a way of protecting your family's assets in the future? An increasing number of people have used discretionary trusts to reduce the risk of losing capital assets. Discretionary trusts can be a good option for high net worth families who are looking for ways to secure their assets.

Discretionary trusts can also be a useful way of protecting family wealth when children marry - ensuring assets are protected in the unhappy event of a subsequent divorce. Subject to how much you have previously gifted, a total of £325,000 may be put into a discretionary trust by each parent during their lifetime. Provided that the combined value of your gifts made by each spouse in the last 7 years including the gift into a discretionary trust is below £325,000 an Inheritance Tax (IHT) charge will not immediately be put on to this sum, although there may be periodic IHT charges during the life of the discretionary trust.

A discretionary trust ensures you and your spouse are in full control of all assets by appointing yourselves as the trustees. You then decide who benefits from the trust, such as children and grandchildren, with the necessary provisions for more to be added as your family situation changes.

As trustees, you are able...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT