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Dedicated trust tax advisers

During your lifetime, it’s critical to make plans that protect your wealth and ensure assets are distributed according to your wishes and provide for your loved ones. Effective trust and estate planning allows you to gain more control over your assets.

If you’re unaware of the potential inheritance tax implications you face, you’re not alone. Trusts can:

Play an important part in family financial management
Routinely be used as an estate planning tool
Shield wealth from erosion with transfer planning
Provide protection for vulnerable individuals
Enable a gift to be made whilst retaining control.

Whatever your circumstances, our experts provide a truly personal service. We offer bespoke advice and work with you, whatever the complexity.

Talk to an expert

Nicola Anderson, Partner PEM Private Client team

Trust and estate planning

When flexibility is the key and you’re uncertain about the future, a trust can be a good long-term solution. Whether the trust has been left in a will, you’re not sure of the inheritance tax consequences, or if there are outstanding actions to be addressed, our expert team can ensure you and your family enjoy the full benefits of your lifetime’s achievements.

Our trust tax advisers are naturally curious, and together we’ll create a plan that helps you navigate this complex landscape and develop a strategy to minimise inheritance tax liability.

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Gail Mackie, Director in PEM's Private Clients team

Trust taxation services

Trusts have tax and administrative obligations that must be fulfilled. Our specialist trust and estate planning team offer a clear perspective and can cut through the red tape and manage it all. We’ll help you achieve your family goals. Our services include:

Registration – with HMRC (self-assessment and international compliance) and the trust register itself
Ongoing compliance – annual accounts, tax position calculations, self-assessment returns, inheritance tax returns, including ten-year and exit charges
Beneficiary support – advising on tax-efficient distributions, completing repayment claims and providing documentation for individual tax returns.

We don’t hide behind jargon. We’re here to explain anything you need, and we’re always happy to listen. If you’re looking for advice on trusts and estate planning from senior advisers, please get in touch.

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Simon Harmsworth from PEM's Private Clients team

Support for trustees

If you’re a trustee, whether in the UK or beyond, you’ll know it comes with serious responsibilities. There are lots of legal obligations and powers. You may not have had this explained to you. If this is the case, we’re here for you.

Our trust and estate planning team has deep experience in providing advice about setting up or closing a trust, variation of trusts, trust compliance and what to do if you’re named in a will. We also provide offshore trust advice, assisting with annual compliance and advisory projects.

Nicola Anderson, Partner in PEM's Private Clients team

FAQs

Why do I need trust and estate planning?

High net worth individuals look to manage inheritance tax exposure while keeping meaningful control over their assets. Trusts offer that balance; assets move outside the estate, while reducing the sense that clients have given everything away. Beneficiaries can include unborn grandchildren, and classes of beneficiaries can be defined, giving real flexibility for complex family situations.

Many clients also come to us already holding trusts, often set up years ago, that no longer reflect their circumstances or intentions. Unwinding, refining or restructuring an existing trust is a niche area, and one we handle with care.

How do I get started with wealth transfer planning?

The first step is understanding whether a trust still works for you. Do you need this trust? Is it still doing what it was designed to do? Has the original reason for setting it up changed? We assess both UK and offshore structures and give you an honest view on whether the arrangement still offers the protection and planning benefits you need.

Beyond that, we run the trust properly, including accounts, distributions and beneficiary tax return documentation, so you have confidence that everything is in order.

I’m a trustee, what do I need to know?

If you’re a trustee, it may be that a trust has served its original purpose and you’re not sure how, or if the trust can be brought to an end. Unfortunately, trustees commonly only know they should have taken action when something goes wrong. Often, there are significant assets involved, and sometimes it’s hard to see the wood for the trees. We’re here to give you a clearer picture.

If a family member had a trust put in their will, you may have been left administering the estate and trust. When this is the case, sometimes you might not even have known a trust was created, much less how to deal with it.

We have a specialist trust team with deep experience across UK and offshore structures and a strong professional network in Cambridge.

What are my obligations as an executor?

Do you also do wills?

The best time to make your will is when you are well, healthy and able to consider matters with a clear mind. The last thing you want to do is leave loved ones in a vulnerable position. If you need support in creating a will, we partner with solicitors across Cambridge and East Anglia who can advise you on a tax-efficient will, putting you back in control and ensuring that your will reflects your wishes.

Can you help with a lasting power of attorney?

You’ve spent much of your life working hard to ensure your family is provided for. But events in life, such as loss of mental capacity or disability, take away the ability to do this. Fortunately, there are proactive steps you can take in advance to protect yourself and your loved ones. We partner with solicitors who can advise you about Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA), allowing you to appoint trusted individuals to make important financial or health decisions on your behalf if you are unable.