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PRIVATE CLIENT

It is never too early or too late to start thinking to make plans for your future or for how your assets are dealt with after your death. ANP ’s Private Client team specialise in Wills, Probate, and Estate Planning and can provide services that are tailor-made to your needs and personal circumstances.

With significant experience in estate planning, drafting of wills, lasting power of attorney (LPAs), trusts and probate administration our team is able to help you ensure that your final wishes are carried out.

Why is a Will important?

If you die without a will, there are certain rules which dictate how the money, property or possessions should be allocated. This may not be the way that you would have wished your money and possessions to be distributed.

What is a Trust?

A trust is a legal arrangement for managing assets. There are different types of trusts, and they are taxed differently. In a trust, assets are held and managed by one person or people (the trustee) to benefit another person or people (the beneficiary). The person providing the assets is called the settlor.

Different kinds of assets can be put in trust, including:

• Cash
• Property
• Shares
• Land

Trusts are set up for a number of reasons, including:

• to control and protect family assets
• when a beneficiary is too young to handle their affairs
• when someone cannot handle their affairs because they’re incapacitated to pass on assets while a settlor is still alive
• to pass on assets when a settlor dies (a ‘will trust’)
• under the rules of inheritance if someone dies without a will (in England and Wales)

Types of trust

There are many different types of trust that can be set up depending on how you want to control your assets.

This is the simplest trust and gives all assets to the beneficiary as long as they are 18 years old or over (in England and Wales). Assets in a bare trust are held in the name of a trustee. However, the beneficiary has the right to the contents of the trust at any time if they are 18 years old or over (in England and Wales). Bare trusts are often used to pass assets on to young people – the trustees look after them until the beneficiary is old enough.

The beneficiary can get income from the trust straight away but cannot control the assets that provide the income. The beneficiary has to pay income tax on the money they receive. It’s common for a settlor to give their partner access to this kind of trust in their lifetime, with any assets passing to the settlor’s children after their partner dies.

The trustees have complete control over the assets and the income they generate, deciding how and when to give them to the beneficiaries. People may set up this kind of trust for their grandchildren, making the grandchildren’s parents trustees.

This combines elements from different trusts. For example, it might give the beneficiary a right to the income (called an interest in possession) of half of a trust fund.

Lasting Power of Attorney

Every adult has the right to manage his or her own money and affairs. Sometimes, however, our ability to do this decreases as we grow older. Whether this is caused by illness, disability, or an accident, there are a number of practical steps you can take to prepare for this. Our private client team can assist you to get your affairs in order and record your instructions and wishes for the future. What the solicitor will need to know If you are the client, the solicitor will need to know:

• whether or not you have made a will;
• who you would choose to handle your affairs, if this is necessary;
• what assets or income you have;
• any special wishes about how you want your property or assets to be handled; and
• whether you have a particular medical condition (if so, they will need permission to speak to your doctor)

For a lasting power of attorney to be valid, you must fully understand the implications of the arrangement at the time of making it.

There are two types of lasting powers of attorney:

A health and welfare lasting power of attorney can be made to give your attorney the right to make personal welfare and medical treatment decisions on your behalf if at some time in the future you are unable to make those decisions yourself. A health and welfare lasting power of attorney can only be used when it has been registered and the donor has lost capacity (the ability to handle their own affairs).
A property and financial affairs lasting power of attorney can be made to give your attorney the right to make financial decisions, such as managing your bank account. Once registered, a property and financial affairs lasting power of attorney can be used while the donor still has capacity, unless the lasting power of attorney specifies otherwise. We can help you ensure a lasting power of attorney is properly set up and registered, and that it is in the best interests of the donor.

The Court of Protection

If someone is mentally incapable of making a particular decision at a particular time, and they haven’t made a lasting power of attorney, and the decision isn’t one that can be made on an informal basis, the matter can be referred to the Court of Protection.

The Court may either choose to make the decision itself on the person’s behalf, or choose someone else, known as a ‘deputy’, to make the decision for them.