A trust can allow you the ability to keep control of certain assets and to determine who they will ultimately benefit. It can be a useful tool in both tax planning and family asset management. A trust does not have to be complicated to achieve its aim – although it is inevitably more complicated than, say, a simple gift of an asset or a legacy.

Just some of the everyday occasions where a trust might be useful are:

• to allow a person to continue to live in a house until they die (or choose to leave), and then arrange what will happen to that asset or its proceeds of sale after that
• to direct assets to children from a previous marriage or relationship but to exercise some degree of control over when they will be paid and upon what conditions
• to provide for a person who is (or will) suffer from a disability and would not be able to manage his or her own affairs without help from trustees
• to postpone decisions about transfers of assets to children or other issue until they are adults and settled in their arrangements – sometimes used in farming situations on succession

A trust can accomplish all of these tasks, and different degrees of influence and discretion can be awarded to the trustees as may be required. As a donor you can also express your wishes in a less formal ‘letter of wishes’ which (along with the trust deed itself) will be there to guide and assist the trustees when they come to make decisions concerning the trust and its assets.

If the event is to take place after the death of the donor then the trust can be incorporated into a Will – or it could be set up in the donor’s lifetime as an active trust or as a ‘pilot trust’ (a trust deed containing all of the required wishes but awaiting the receipt of funds).

We can assist with all of these aspects.