Prestige Tax and Trust Services launch new website
Shropshire (PRWEB UK) 11 July 2013 -- Prestige Tax and Trust Services recently launched their new website. Specialising in estate planning, they help their clients plan for the future with services including lasting power of attorney, wills, trusts, inheritance tax and more. They aim to help their clients minimise deductions from their savings, so they can pass these on to family & friends as they wish.
Their lasting power of attorney service, for example, can help avoid the remote management and fees of the Court of Protection. In the UK, if a person is deemed unable to manage their affairs and there is no other arrangement in place, the Court of Protection assumes this role. This can be very disconcerting for relatives – having to ask permission to use their family member’s money on their behalf and then being charged a fee for it.
A property trust helps to ensure that a local authority cannot use the value of a property in means tested assessment for care home costs. Normally a married couple jointly own a home – meaning that if one passes away the other owns 100%. In this scenario the full value of the house can be assessed against care costs – often leaving little for them to pass on to other family members. A trust means that the surviving partner would own (typically) 50% of the house and is granted a ‘life interest’ in it – being able to remain resident for as long as they wish.
They can also assist in the creation of a ‘Deed of Gift’, which helps to add people to a property’s Deed and thus reduce the burden of inheritance tax and the probate process. Unlike a property trust this process may be considered by a local authority when assessing care fees – if they consider that a Deed of Gift was made to increase financial entitlement to care they may take steps to recover the assets.
When a loved one passes away it’s difficult enough without money matters complicating this stressful time. Without prior preparation many find the deductions upsettingly swingeing – which is where Prestige come in: “It’s about evaluating a client’s assets, listening to their concerns and their hopes for the future and then legally, legitimately helping to lower their exposure to care fees, inheritance taxes and other such deductions”.
With the new website completed, they said they can’t wait to start helping people to protect their money and prepare for the future. The Shropshire based firm also cover tax and trust issues on their Prestige Tax and Trust Services blog.
LK, Prestige Tax and Trust Services, http://prestigetaxandtrustservices.co.uk/, 0845 388 3454, [email protected]
Share this article