Protecting your assets

Some attempts at asset protection include putting the property or financial resource in the name of a familiar member or other trusted associate. A way of avoiding inheritance tax is simply to give assets away while the actual owner is still alive, some restrictions apply to avoid purposeful avoidance of tax, additionally, financial accounts may be held in offshore banks or on the Isle of Man (the government on the island does not charge inheritance tax).

 

Protection from care fees

It is important to make note of the possibility of entering into a care home. It is understandable to have a fear that their home and savings would be stripped away from them to pay for their care. At the moment, if a person enters full-time care and they have property, savings & investments worth more than £23,250 (as of Nov 2021) they will have to pay the full cost of their care themselves. More often than not couples make wills that leave their whole estate to each other on the first death. This means the survivor then owns everything. The problem with this is if the survivor goes into a care home all their assets (including those inherited from their deceased partner), can be taken into account towards their care fees. Asset Protection Trust Wills exist to protect your assets.

 

How we can help

Lestons can arrange a third party to write a will for you as this is currently not a service that we offer, please note we make no commission from these referrals but do need clients to open a case so that we can prepare a financial brief for them. To gain our assistance you need to open a case, this is done by taking advantage of our free consultation service, activated by the link at the top of the page, should you wish to start a case the caseworker will send you the suitable payment link.

 

Please note your caseworker can only give generic advice, their role is to prepare your details for handling by our will writing experts and to act as your point of contact, they will also issue you with your Password and PIN, these will be needed to log onto your client dashboard. From your dashboard you will be able to manage and view every aspect of your case, upload documents, images, files etc.