Trust Planning & Creation
What is a Trust?
A trust is, at heart, a surprisingly simple idea.
Instead of assets simply belonging to one person outright, they are placed into a legal structure where they are held and managed by trustees for the benefit of the people you choose.
Those assets might include money, investments, property, shares in a business or other valuable possessions.
You decide why the trust is being created, who it is intended to benefit and, depending upon the type of trust, the circumstances in which those people should benefit. The trustees then have the responsibility of looking after the trust and carrying out its terms.
That separation between ownership, control and benefit is what makes trusts so useful.
It means that instead of simply giving an asset away — or leaving it to somebody outright when you die — you can put a structure around it.
And that structure can continue long after you are no longer there to make the decisions yourself.
"The separation between ownership, control and benefit is what makes trusts so useful."
How Does a Trust Work?
Think of a trust as putting a protective framework around part of your wealth.
You decide what you want to achieve. The trust is then designed around those objectives.
For example, you may want your spouse to be financially secure while ultimately preserving assets for your children. You might want to help grandchildren with education without simply handing them a large sum of money. You may have a vulnerable family member who will need support long after you have gone. Or you may simply want greater certainty over what happens to property, investments or business assets in the future.
The important point is that you do not need to know what type of trust you need before speaking to us.
That is our job.
We start with you: your family, your assets, your concerns and what you want to happen.
Only then do we consider the appropriate structure.
Trust planning should not begin with a complicated legal product. It should begin with a simple question:
What are you trying to protect, and who are you trying to protect it for?
Trust planning should not begin with a complicated legal product. It should begin with a simple question:
What are you trying to protect, and who are you trying to protect it for?
Why Might I Need a Trust?
Most people spend a lifetime building their wealth but surprisingly little time thinking about what could ultimately happen to it.
A Will is important, but a Will largely deals with what happens when you die. A trust can allow you to plan much further ahead.
You might consider trust planning if you want to:
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protect an inheritance for your children or grandchildren;
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provide for a spouse while preserving assets for the next generation;
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reduce the risk of family wealth being lost through remarriage or changing family circumstances;
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make long-term provision for a vulnerable or disabled person;
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help children or grandchildren without giving them unrestricted access to money;
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plan the future ownership of business or investment assets;
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pass wealth from one generation to another in a controlled way;
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explore legitimate inheritance tax and estate-planning opportunities; or
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simply have greater control over what happens to the wealth you have spent your life creating.
And trusts are not only for the exceptionally wealthy.
For many families today, the family home alone represents several hundred thousand pounds of accumulated wealth. Add savings, pensions, investments, business interests and other assets, and there may be considerably more to protect than you first realise.
The real question is therefore not:
“Do I understand trusts?”
It is:
“Is there anything I have worked for that I would like to protect, and anybody I care about whose future I would like to secure?”
If the answer is yes, it is worth having a conversation with us.
You don't need to know which trust you need. You don't need to understand the terminology. And you certainly don't need to make any decisions before speaking to us.
Tell us what you want to achieve. We will explain the options.
Talk to us about Trust Planning
Your circumstances are unique, so your estate planning should be too.
CHC Legal offers new prospective clients a FREE 30-minute consultation. Tell us about your family, your assets and what concerns you about the future, and we can explain whether trust planning could help.
No obligation. No complicated legal language. Just a conversation about what you want to protect and how we may be able to help.