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Mr and Mrs Phelps
We were looking for someone who we could relate to who would understand our needs with investments.
We met David and liked him immediately. He advised us of the type of plan which would be beneficial to our circumstances.
Mr and Mrs Phelps are both in their late 60s and retired, I have been advising them on various areas of financial planning including inheritance tax planning for a number of years.
During our conversations it was evident that they were concerned about their son’s marriage and what would happen to their estate on second death. They were adamant that they wanted their son and his children to benefit from any legacy they passed too him.
There estate was valued at approximately £900,000. They had a will which was a straight mirror will leaving everything to the surviving spouse and then to their son on second death absolutely.
This meant that on second death the estate would be part of their son’s estate and so open to social impacts such as divorce, with their son’s legacy potentially forming part of a divorce settlement.
I recommended the married couples beneficiary protection plan with appropriate letters of wishes, this planning on second death directs there estate to a trust. Their son can either take the legacy/gift or leave it in the trust, either way it will not form part of his estate so cannot be used as part of a divorce settlement or by any creditors.
The legacy is protected because the trust is the legal owner of the gift and not the son. This then provides third generation Inheritance tax planning and care planning for grandchildren.
"David has been advising us for a number of years, he has listened to our concerns about our son and what would happen to our estate when we are both no longer around. We have both worked hard to build..."
Mrs Jones
Mrs Jones husband died quite suddenly and out of the blue in 2015, they have two children of school age her husband had life cover which paid off the mortgage and a separate life policy along with his pensions. I was introduced to Mrs Jones through a family friend. Mrs Jones is in her early 40s and works full time with a good salary.
She explained that whilst her Husband was alive there planning goal was always to look after the children and give them a decent start in life, Mrs Jones explained that she still wanted that wish to be protected now the house was mortgage free and she had a lump sum invested. She had the existing mirror will in place.
We spoke openly about the future and Mrs Jones wanted to make sure that whatever her future held she wanted the children to be financially secure but with guidance until aged 21, Her daughter suffers from severe anxiety as well and was concerned that if anything happened to her, her daughter would be potentially seriously affected, and potentially unable to make financial decisions straight away.
I recommended the single persons beneficiary protection plan with well-chosen trustees, this would mean that whilst the children were under the age of 21 and if anything happened to her the estate would be directed into the trust, with the trustees having the ability to use capital as the children needed it IE to buy a first car, tuition fees etc. , and at the chosen age of 21 could choose to take the gift or leave it in the trust . As a secondary benefit if Mrs Jones was remarried at this point the assets are ring fenced for the children.
This planning relieved her concerns about her children particularly her daughter not having to make immediate decisions.
"I have been very satisfied with all the advice given by David Garforth and would recommend him to anyone seeking financial advice...."
Mr and Mrs Harrison
Mr and Mrs Harrison are both into their late 60s. They have a 46 year old daughter with severe physical and mental handicaps. She requires round the clock attention which involves obvious hard work but also many moments that are special.
Their daughter requires various equipment to help her parents move her around her home including specialist chairs and hoists. She also requires specialist respite care with a team of people who have built a relationship with her and understand her needs just as well as her Mum and Dad .
At a recent meeting Mr and Mrs Harrison at their home they expressed concerns about what would happen to their daughters care and needs if as parents they pre deceased her. Their concerns were based around who would make both care and financial decisions on their daughter’s behalf and deal with her inherited estate. Who would provide the protection? To their daughter as a beneficiary.
We discussed that a simple will leaving everything to their daughter would mean she benefits absolutely the inheritance, meaning the inheritance will form part of her estate. Mr and Mrs Harrison expressed concerns at this because their daughter does not have the capacity to deal with the inheritance. or her ongoing care .I explained that using beneficiary protection and bloodline planning with a trust would elevate these concerns . . On the second death the assets would be directed to the trust and using two trusted trustees. These Trustees would have a duty of care on the trust, and would be able to make sure that their daughter’s needs are met financially in the future. Care needed to be taken on the choice of Trustees in this case so it was decided that Mrs Harrisons Brothers would act as trustees because they understood their niece’s needs after being heavily involved in her life as family.
This will also involve Independent Financial advice once the trust is set up on second death to insure the inheritance is invested wisely and tax efficiently.
This coupled with the will forming part of the overall integral planning would provide the protective frame work Mr and Mrs Harrison were looking for .
A further meeting was arranged with the trustees, where I explained their responsibilities as trustees. We provided them with literature that outlines trustee’s roles and they both agreed along with Mr and Mrs Harrison that the bloodline planning and protective trust framework met their concerns.
At this point we completed the initial application forms with Mr and Mrs Harrison and these were sent off to our Trust and legal partners. They produced the draft wills and trust documents along with the letter of wishes and posted them out to Mr AND Mrs Harrison to read through and quality check. Along with a full set of guidance notes and help from myself at TUTIS Mr and Mrs Harrison were able to sign these and return them so the final legal documents could be prepared for signatures. A short time later the final legal documents and wills were produced and signed by Mr and Mrs Harrison along with their trustees and witnessed accordingly with the whole process taking approximately 12 to 15 weeks
"David listened to our concerns, looked at the situation and came back to us with a solution which we were very satisfied with as it takes care of our daughter’s financial interests after we are both d..."
