cost of setting up discretionary trust

[ronan1]

Dear all
How much a rough range) should we expect to pay to set up a Discetionary Trust for nil rate allowance for IHT purposes?
Just have no clue what to expect
thanks

[Taxbar]

If you are talking about NIL BAND Discretionary will trust wills: Then depending on who you see and where you are in the Country (and it should be a specialist private client solicitor or lawyer) you should expect to pay between £800-£2,000.
This would be to take instructions and draft the document with some basic advice. If you have advice on other IHT issues and planning and other family matters such as who gets what etc, then expect to pay @ the persons hourly rate for additional advice.

Daniel Feingold
STP
info@stratax.co.uk

[johnfkavanagh]

The actual cost of drafting a trust deed (or a will including such a trust if that is what is appropriate) is likely to be quite low (in most instances there will be relatively few changes to an established precedent) but, as Daniel's reply implies, it is the advice and the understanding of your situation which is most important and it is the care, skill and knowledge which goes into the advice which is the part worth paying for! In my experience, there are too many small law firms who claim knowledge in this area which they do not possess and I completely endorse Daniel's suggestion that you should go to a specialist private client solicitor, preferably on a recommendation from another professional.

John Kavanagh
UK Tax Consulting Ltd
Chartered Tax Advisers
www.uktaxconsulting.co.uk
mail@uktaxconsulting.com
Tel: 020 7060 1660
Fax: 020 7060 1663

[bob.fraser@towrylaw.]

The advice that I always give individuals looking at estate planning (indeed, any form of financial palnning) is to view this as a process with a number of steps. These are:

Understand the client's financial circumstances
Understand the client's financial objectives
Understand the client's tax situation (all taxes_
Agree the probable timescales involved
Identify all the options
Discuss the costs, risks and tax implications of each option
Agree the optimal solution to meet the client's objectives
Document all the above in a report which records the specific recommendations
Implement the recommendations

As both Daniel and John point out, few lawyers have this expertise. If there is not one convenient to you, then you should consider having the detailed recommendations prepared by a financial planner, and then asking a solicitor to implement the legal documentation.

[johnfkavanagh]

With all due respect to Bob, and meaning no discourtesy to him personally, I certainly would not recommend using a financial adviser, independent or otherwise, for this kind of work. While it is certainly true that not all solicitors have the expertise necessary to advise, I am afraid that exactly the same can be said about the vast majority of financial advisers. The difference in my opinion is that even the most expert of financial advisers will not have anything like the depth of knowledge of a specialist private client solicitor (you will not be able to instruct a practising barrister directly).

John Kavanagh
UK Tax Consulting Ltd
Chartered Tax Advisers
www.uktaxconsulting.co.uk
mail@uktaxconsulting.com
Tel: 020 7060 1660
Fax: 020 7060 1663