SECTOR FOCUS: LEGAL
Understanding the options that are available to help protect your home
Your home represents everything you have worked hard for. Paying off your mortgage is an achievement and a huge relief. You want to enjoy your home for as long as you can and when you are no longer here, pass it, or as much as of it as you can, on to your family so that they can enjoy the benefits too. Wolferstans’ solicitors are
often contacted by clients desperate to protect their home. They are concerned that their home is at risk of being sold to pay for their care home fees, or to settle an inheritance tax bill when they die. Many people have
‘Wolferstans solicitors are
often contacted by clients desperate to protect their home’
heard about, read articles on or even attended seminars where companies advise them to give their home to their family in their lifetime or settle their house on trust, often labelled as a ‘Home Protection Trust’ or ‘Asset Preservation Trust’. Often, the companies promoting these types of Trusts form part of the trust and estate planning sector, which is unregulated, which means that anyone can set themselves up to advise on wills or estate planning, irrespective of whether they are appropriately qualified. Wolferstans are aware that many
companies of this kind have hosted these seminars and promised individuals that should they go into care, the total value of the house
40 Chamber Profile Spring 2019
would not form part of any financial assessments undertaken by the Local Authority. Attendees are also often told that the value of their house would not form part of their estate for inheritance tax purposes when they die. However, Wolferstans strongly recommend that clients who are interested in transferring their property into a lifetime trust, take advice on the pitfalls in doing so. The pitfalls include but are not limited to; inheritance tax issues and loss of certain tax reliefs, expensive administration charges, missing out on important Capital Gains Tax
savings and you may even be accused of deliberately depriving yourself of
assets by the Local Authority if you ever require care in the future. Wolferstans are currently helping
a number of clients who have been affected by the collapse of an unregulated company in this field, Universal Tax Solutions, which was based in Ipswich but held seminars across the country, including in Plymouth. They also traded as Universal Wealth Preservation, Universal Asset Protection Ltd and Universal Trustees Ltd. The winding up of the company commenced on 23 May 2018 after a petition for its liquidation was made in November 2017. There has been a great deal of media coverage since it was
announced that the Directors of the company, Steven and Melanie Long, were also under police investigation amidst allegations of fraud and Mr Long has since been granted a prison sentence. In setting up these trusts Universal Wealth frequently appointed their Directors to act as Trustees. The house was often transferred into the names of Mr and Mrs Long, and would show on
the Land Registry’s title register that they were the legal owners. Some clients also settled cash in to the Trust and it’s uncertain whether this money will be returned. This has caused great concern for all those affected and the advice given by the company is also under investigation by STEP (the professional association of trusts and estate planning specialists).
All members of Wolferstans Wills & Probate team are qualified to advise on these matters and are regulated by the Law Society and the Solicitors Regulation Authority. If you have previously put your property or any other assets into a trust during your lifetime (as opposed to a property trust set up in your will) then please contact them as they can advise on and help with the following:
• Provide clear advice as to what has been set up for you
• Provide you with some options. We will ensure that all advice is tailored after having looked at yours and your family’s circumstances. We will also need to ensure that you receive the appropriate tax advice when deciding whether you decide to keep the trust or wind it up
• Locate your original wills, trust documents and Lasting Powers of Attorney and review them with you. If your original will cannot be located, then it’s important that you urgently make a new one (you may also need to cancel and make new Lasting Powers of Attorney)
• Help carry out a search of HM Land Registry to check in whose name your property is registered
• Appoint new trustees of any Trust, if necessary
Wolferstans will soon be holding free seminars advising clients of the pitfalls of family protection trusts and to give some other options to consider.
Visit:
wolferstans.com
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