Estate planning has a reputation as something for the very wealthy. In practice, an ordinary Dorset house plus a pension plus some savings is often enough to create a tax bill, and almost always enough to create a mess if nothing is written down.
Where inheritance tax bites
Everyone has allowances before inheritance tax applies, with extra available when a home passes to children or grandchildren, and anything left to a spouse or civil partner is usually free of the tax altogether. The catch is that the thresholds have been frozen for years while house prices have kept moving, which pulls in families who never thought of themselves as wealthy.
The first step is simple arithmetic: what the estate is worth today, which allowances apply, and whether there is a likely bill. Many people find the answer reassuring. The rest find out early enough to do something about it.
Gifting while living
Money given away in good time usually falls out of the estate, and there are annual allowances and exemptions that work straight away. Helping with a grandchild's deposit while you can watch them move in tends to beat leaving the same money decades later.
The discipline is making sure the giving never puts your own later years at risk. That is exactly what the planning is for: working out what you can safely give, and when.
"We finally know what would happen, and the children know where everything is. That was worth more than the tax saving."
Client, Bridport · PLACEHOLDER, replace with verified review
Getting things in order
A current will, powers of attorney, pension death-benefit nominations and a simple list of where everything is held. None of it is complicated, and together it spares a family months of untangling at the worst possible time. We work alongside your solicitor for the legal documents and handle the financial side: making sure pensions, investments and protection are set up to pass on the way you intend.
What it costs
The first conversation is free. If we go on to work together, our fees for advice and ongoing reviews are set out in writing and agreed before any work starts. Fee structure to be inserted from Quilter-approved disclosure.