Trusts 
Advice

Many of us have worked hard, saved or made good investments to enjoy during later life, or to leave for our children and family when we die. One of the best ways to protect your assets is by putting your savings,  property, pension and/or life insurance policy in a trust for your loved ones.  Trusts are set up to:

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• Control and protect your assets

• To keep your assets safe and secure for your children until they come of age

• To pass on assets to appointed people when you die 

• To pass on assets to appointed people when you're alive

• To protect the assets of a person who is incapacitated 

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Setting up trusts means that you don't own the assets any more and therefore they may not be counted towards inheritance tax when you die. A trust can also be an effective asset protection tool to protect your assets from creditor claims, lawsuits and other legal threats. There are several types of trusts – some of which are revocable, some of which are not and your particular circumstances will dictate what is right for you.  

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People Involved In A Trust

There are three main roles involved in setting up a trust which are the settlor, the trustee and the beneficiary. 

 

The Settlor: 

This person owns the assets and decides how they should be used in the trust. 

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The Trustee(s): 

This is the person who has legal control over the assets in the trust. They manage the trust, pay any taxes due and also generally decide how to use the trusts assets.

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Then Beneficiary: 

This is the person who benefits from the assets in the trust. It can be one person or a group of people. If the beneficiary is a person below legal adult age then they won't have access to the assets until they are of age.

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Types of Trusts

There are a variety of trusts that you can chose to set up, all which have different benefits depending on your personal circumstances. These are: 

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• Bare Trusts

• Interest in Possession Trusts

• Discretionary Trusts

• Vulnerable Beneficiaries Trusts

• Mixed Trusts

• Settlor Interested Trusts

• Non-Resident Trusts

• Charitable or Non-Charitable Trusts

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At LegaCare, we help clients to decide if a trust is the best way to control their assets and we help you to understand which trusts is best based on your personal assets and your wishes for the future.