Trusts Solicitors
We can help you to provide for your loved ones in the future and make your estate more tax efficient
Trusts can be set up during your lifetime or as part of your Will. They can benefit your loved ones or help to minimise your tax liabilities. However, for a trust to be effective, it has to be set up in the right way, properly managed and any problems will need to be dealt with promptly and strategically.
Whether you are thinking about creating a trust or need help with an existing trust, our highly experienced team can offer expert support tailored to your requirements.
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- Richard Horwood
- Partner and Head of Private Client
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- Alastair Liddiard
- Partner and Head of Trust and Estate Administration
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- Bernard Flanagan
- Senior Solicitor specialising in Wills, Trusts, Probate and Powers of Attorney
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- Victoria Wood
- Senior Solicitor in the Older and Vulnerable Client team
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- Flora Gaughan
- Chartered Legal Executive
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- Paulette Jones
- Trust Manager
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- Tina Pizzey
- Probate Administrator
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- Vicky Rossi
- Paralegal
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How our trust solicitors can assist you
Our trust solicitors in Hertfordshire can support you with:
- Choosing the right type of trust for your circumstances
- Setting up a trust
- Applications to change trusts
- Advice for trustees
- Acting as professional trustees
- Advice for trust beneficiaries
- Winding up a trust
- Trust dispute resolution
Have a question? Please read our Trust law FAQs or get in touch.
Reasons to choose Longmores’ trust law solicitors
- Our Private Client team is consistently ranked in leading client guide the Legal 500 offering assurance of the quality of our services
- Several of the team are members of the prestigious Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), reflecting their high-level expertise
- We have the seasoned expertise to ensure all issues related to trust law are handled efficiently and effectively, keeping your interests protected
- We take the time to understand your circumstances and what you want to achieve with a trust, so we can deliver the very best legal solutions
- Our solicitors specialising in trusts keep things simple, always explaining everything in plain English
- We will be here if you have any questions or need additional support in the future
Speak to our trust solicitors
To discuss your requirements with our trust lawyers in Hertford, please get in touch.
Reasons to set up a trust
You might wish to set up a trust for many reasons, including:
- Giving money to children who are too young to look after it themselves, such as grandparents wishing to fund a grandchild’s education
- Controlling a gift – to give money to somebody, but continuing to make decisions about how that money is used and invested
- Illness or disability – so someone else can look after your property for you, or your intended beneficiary, because you or they are unable to do so or are likely to be unable in the future
- Life insurance – so that the proceeds of a life insurance policy do not form part of your estate for inheritance tax purposes
- Personal injury compensation – to keep compensation separate, so it does not affect certain state benefits
- Residential care – to preserve wealth against the potential of needing long term care, such as protecting against the possibility of having to sell your home to pay for care
- Safeguarding inheritance – to ensure any inheritance you wish to leave your family is protected if your partner remarries after your death
- Tax – to reduce exposure to certain taxes
Our trust law solicitors’ expertise
Choosing the right type of trust for your circumstances
There are many different types of trusts you can choose from, so it is important to understand the options and which is best for your requirements.
Our experienced, specialist lawyers always explain the details of complex legal structures, like trusts, in plain language so you can make an informed decision on arrangements that are in the best interests of you and your family, both now and for the long term. That includes defining how and when beneficiaries will receive access to assets.
Setting up a trust
We set up trusts for a wide variety of clients, covering all kinds of assets, such as property, investments or cash. We advise on the tax benefits and implications of setting up a trust, then prepare all of the necessary documents and ensure that the trust is registered with HMRC where required.
Applications to change trusts
Sometimes, it may be necessary to make changes to trusts, such as amending the trust documents or changing trustees. Our specialist lawyers for trusts can assist with this process, ensuring all documentation is prepared correctly to facilitate the smooth operation of a trust going forward.
Advice for trustees
Acting as a trustee is a serious responsibility that can often involve making decisions on complex matters about which the trustees may have limited knowledge. There are also annual reporting obligations that must be correctly discharged.
Our trust management solicitors can assist trustees with all of these matters, making sure they are able to discharge their duties properly and in full compliance with all aspects of trust law.
Acting as professional trustees
Where appropriate, partners within Longmores can also act as trustees for any trust you set up and provide ongoing trust administration services.
By acting as professional trustees, we can ensure your assets are shared with beneficiaries in accordance with your wishes and provide ongoing trust administration services such as preparing annual accounts, tax returns and making payments to beneficiaries.
Advice for trust beneficiaries
Beneficiaries of trusts often have questions about how a trust is being managed, including around whether the trustees are acting correctly. Our expert team can advise beneficiaries on any concerns they have, as well as acting for beneficiaries to address any issues that have been identified.
Winding up a trust
If the time has come to end a trust, it must be closed down in the correct way. Our specialist lawyers for trusts can manage the process of winding up a trust, making sure the proper process is followed and all legal obligations are met.
Trust dispute resolution
Disputes between trustees, beneficiaries or both can arise all too often, especially where trust documents have not been drafted clearly, there are competing interests to balance or where there are questions about trustees’ conduct.
Our solicitors specialising in trust disputes can find the fastest, most cost-effective way to resolve these matters while never compromising on your best interests. In most cases, contentious court proceedings can be avoided but, where needed, we can provide robust representation for formal hearings.
Trust law FAQs
A trust is a financial vehicle into which money, investments, property and other assets can be placed. Trusts allow those assets to be managed by one or more trustees for the benefit of one or more other parties, known as beneficiaries.
Trusts hold assets for the benefit of the beneficiary or beneficiaries and are managed by the trustees who must, at all times, act in the beneficiaries’ best interests. Trustees will either be required to agree all actions taken in relation to the trust or they may be able to act individually as well as jointly.
Depending on how the trust was set up, the trustees may have quite wide discretion over how to use the assets of the trust or they may be very strictly limited. They may have the option to reinvest income from the trust or be required to pay this directly to the beneficiaries.
Trustees can normally deduct reasonable expenses from the trust income, such as paying for legal and accounting services.
A trust may last indefinitely or until a specific time e.g. when the beneficiary reaches a certain age.
Trusts are created through drafting trust documents to establish the trust, followed by a ‘settlor’ placing assets into the trust. The trust documents will name the trustees who will be responsible for managing the trust, what decisions they can make, how decisions should be made and who will benefit from the trust.
In most cases, a trust will need to be registered with HMRC, but this is not always the case, so it is important to take specialist advice on this.
Anyone can be a beneficiary of a trust, including individuals, classes of individuals (such as the settlor’s grandchildren), charities and organisations. A useful fact to note is that a trust can name people who have not yet been born as beneficiaries e.g. any grandchildren born to the settlor’s children in the future.
The cost of setting up a trust in the UK will vary based on factors such as the type of trust and the complexity of the legal issues involved. Our team will be happy to advise on our costs when you contact us.
Speak to our trust solicitors
To discuss your requirements with our trust lawyers in Hertford, please get in touch.
