Here at Forward Law we have a strong team of private client lawyers to help you with all the legal aspects of your private life.
The work of our Private Client Lawyers
This team’s work includes:
- wills, including estate planning (Inheritance Tax planning)
- probate
- trusts – setting up and managing trusts, whether for Inheritance Tax planning or otherwise
- divorce and other family law matters, including child custody and contact
- prenuptial agreements
- residential conveyancing
Estate Planning
Our private client lawyers look after the wealth planning and preservation needs of many entrepreneurs, farmers, landowners and other high-net-worth individuals. Our team provide expert Capital Gains Tax and Inheritance Tax advice in connection with estate planning (succession planning). They are therefore well-placed to help you.
Inheritance Tax has often been called a voluntary tax, because, if you plan sufficiently well, you will not have to pay it (you will have found legal ways to make your estate no longer liable to it). Some assets are not liable to Inheritance Tax. For example, this includes business property and shares in private trading companies. For other assets, the most common method is to use a trust. Essentially to set up a trust:
- You put your chosen assets into that trust; and
- Then the trustees hold them “in trust”, on behalf of the next (and subsequent) generations.
Our private client lawyers can advise you on your specific circumstances and on which solution best suits you and your family. The result should be the preservation of the wealth you have created for the benefit of the next generation, rather than the tax man.
Business Succession Planning
Alongside estate planning, you may have a business to pass on to the next generation sometime. Our private client team can work with our corporate team to ensure you can transfer this when the time comes. They can help you to get everything in order, so this can happen with as smooth a transition as possible.
If you need a shareholders agreement, they can also put one of those in place for you now. This will preserve your rights and the value you have built up in the company.
