Estate Planning for High-Net-Worth Individuals
Wealth preservation requires more than asset accumulation. Without a structured estate plan, high-value assets can be significantly reduced due to inheritance tax, legal disputes, and inefficient wealth transfers. A well-designed strategy ensures financial security, minimises tax exposure, and protects generational wealth.
We specialise in estate planning solutions that address complex financial landscapes, integrating trust structures, inheritance tax relief strategies, business succession frameworks, and asset protection mechanisms.
Our Estate Planning Services for High-Net-Worth Individuals
We provide estate planning strategies designed to protect wealth, reduce tax liabilities, and ensure a smooth transition of assets. Each service is customized to the unique financial structures of high-net-worth individuals, addressing inheritance tax (IHT), business succession, real estate protection, and wealth transfer mechanisms.
Trust Planning & Wealth Protection
- Discretionary Trusts: Allows assets to be managed for beneficiaries without granting them direct ownership, ensuring tax efficiency and protecting assets from creditors.
- Bare Trusts: Ideal for gifting assets to children while ensuring tax advantages. Assets belong to the beneficiary but remain managed by trustees until the beneficiary reaches legal age.
- Loan Trusts: Enables individuals to lend capital to a trust, allowing investment growth to remain outside the taxable estate while retaining access to the original capital.
- Dynasty Trusts: Designed for long-term wealth preservation, ensuring assets remain within the family across multiple generations and providing ongoing protection from IHT and legal disputes.
Inheritance Tax (IHT) Planning & Mitigation
Business owners can benefit from up to 100% IHT relief on qualifying assets, provided the business meets BPR eligibility criteria. Proper structuring ensures continuity and tax efficiency.
- Gift Allowances & Wealth Transfers: Use the annual exemption of £3,000 and potentially exempt transfers (PETs) to transfer substantial wealth tax-free if the donor survives for seven years after gifting.
- Charitable Legacy Planning: Leaving 10% or more of an estate to charity reduces the IHT rate from 40% to 36%, maximising tax relief while supporting philanthropic causes.
- Generation-Skipping Trusts: Allow assets to bypass children and transfer directly to grandchildren, avoiding double taxation on wealth transfers.
Business Succession & Asset Protection
- Buy-Sell Agreements: Ensure business continuity in the event of an owner’s death or retirement by allowing pre-agreed ownership transfers, preventing forced sales or disputes.
- Family Investment Companies (FICs): Provides a corporate structure to manage and distribute family wealth, benefiting from corporation tax rates (19-25%) rather than higher personal income tax rates.
- Employee Ownership Trusts (EOTs): Allows business owners to sell their company to employees while benefiting from Capital Gains Tax (CGT) exemptions, ensuring a tax-efficient exit strategy.
Real Estate & Investment Portfolio Structuring
These trusts shield high-value properties from inheritance tax, divorce settlements, and creditor claims, ensuring controlled ownership transitions.
Example: A £10 million property retained in an asset protection trust remains protected from probate delays and excessive taxation.
- Offshore Trusts: For individuals with international assets, offshore trusts in Guernsey, Jersey, or the Isle of Man provide improved privacy, legal protection, and tax efficiency.
- Tax-Efficient Investment Transfers: Investment portfolios should be structured within ISAs, pensions, and trusts to minimise Capital Gains Tax (CGT) and IHT exposure, ensuring long-term financial security.
Specialist Estate Planning Services
- Life Insurance in Irrevocable Life Insurance Trusts (ILITs): Ensures payouts remain outside of the taxable estate, protecting beneficiaries from unnecessary IHT charges.
- Succession Planning for Private Equity & Family Offices: High-net-worth individuals with private equity investments require structured succession plans to preserve wealth while optimising tax exposure. We develop exit strategies, transfer mechanisms, and governance structures for smooth wealth continuity.
- Probate & Estate Administration: Handling probate without proper guidance can lead to delays, excessive taxation, and legal disputes. Our estate administration service ensures that assets are distributed according to legal frameworks while minimising costs.
FAQs on Estate Planning for High-Net-Worth Individuals
Using trusts, business property relief, gifting allowances, and charitable donations can significantly lower IHT exposure.
Your estate could be subject to probate delays, excessive taxation, and disputes, reducing what your beneficiaries receive.
Estate plans should be reviewed every 2–3 years or after significant legislative changes.
Yes. Business property relief, family investment companies, and succession planning structures ensure business assets remain protected from excessive taxation.
A generation-skipping trust (GST) allows assets to pass directly to grandchildren, avoiding IHT at multiple levels.
Securing Your Wealth for Future Generations
Estate planning isn’t just about drafting documents—it’s about structuring assets to ensure they remain within the family while minimising unnecessary taxation. Without proper planning, estates can be eroded by IHT, probate fees, and legal complexities. A planned approach ensures assets transition efficiently, protecting wealth for future generations.
