Being a successful Estate Planning Adviser can only be achieved if you have the ability to give the best risk-free advice to your clients. At Countrywide, it is our firm belief that best advice can only be consistently achieved if:
- You can offer your client the planning best suited to their individual circumstances rather than the planning that your current “system” or knowledge allows
- You have the best software system that produce estate planning documents accurately that are bespoke and relevant to your clients estate planning requirements and budget
- You have access to a growing team of (currently!) nine estate planning experts who are on the telephone and email to answer your estate planning queries
- And last but not least, your access to solutions that no other estate planners have…and a team of people constantly working on and investing in new Counsel approved innovative estate planning solutions for you and your clients.
Introducing our next free webinar: Estate Planning Tips and Tricks
So what’s covered?
Risk Management
Those of you that are regular “Webinarers” you will know that much of our work is aimed at making processes more efficient, such as electronic signing and paperless instruction taking but also protecting your business against the risk of claims and litigation (Will Clarity and Execution Statements / Larke v Nugus (Webinars 49 and 51 respectively)).
Two of the main sources of claims against estate and financial planners are:
- Inadvertent triggering of tax liabilities
- Exposing clients to unnecessary liabilities/fees due to poor/lack of advice
As estate planners, many of us have clients that are wealthy enough to have a potential exposure to Inheritance Tax (IHT) on their deaths. The most common way to plan to reduce this exposure is by making gifts. It is best advice that these gifts are made to a Discretionary Trust for all the protective benefits that these mechanisms can give, however this does come with some risks:
- What if the client has made gifts to Trust in the last 7 years and fails to tell you/remember?
- The cumulative effect can result in a 20% CLT charge… is your PI ready for this?
Those of you that are fortunate enough to already work with Countrywide will know that our range of settlor interested Trusts (Probate Trusts) already have an in-built protection against CLT (put in as much as you want!), and subsequent periodic and exit charges during the settlor’s lifetime and also removes the possibility of IHT on first death of a married couple/civil partners.
Our next webinar talks in more detail regarding a Gift Trust solution that achieves the same!
The Countrywide Super Gift Trust:
- Clients can settle as much as they wish without fear of an unexpected CLT charge
- They can choose to protect the Super Gift Trust from future periodic and exit charges
- So if the clients fail to accurately describe to you their previous gifting history, the Super Gift Trust resolves the potential issue!
Don’t be negligent regarding the upcoming increase in Probate Application Fees:
- Joint Life First death life cover now needs to be assigned to Trust as it forms part of the estate value for the upcoming probate fees
- Countrywide have a Probate Joint Life Assurance Trust to alleviate this problem
- Assets in settlor interested Trusts (Countrywide’s “family” of Probate Trusts) do not form part of the estate value for the upcoming Probate Application Fees
Introducing the new updated and more flexible Countrywide Life Assurance Trust:
- Allows protection against the (little known) IHT trap of accelerated death benefits (Critical Illness Cover)
- Allows clients to retain a share of “lifetime benefits” such as CIC and TIC if required whilst ensuring that the remainder is IHT efficient
- And some other little tips and tricks to consider and keep you ahead of the “local Solicitor” or the other estate planner round the corner!
Webinar details
Register your place now on our free webinar!
Time: 10am – 11am
Register for Friday 12th April
This article was submitted to be published by Countrywide Tax & Trust Corporation Ltd as part of their advertising agreement with Today’s Wills and Probate. The views expressed in this article are those of the submitter and not those of Today’s Wills and Probate.
