Once you've decided to make a Will with us you can decide how simple or how complicated you want it to be. Many of our clients decide to use trusts in their Wills. You can think of a trust as being like a treasure chest which your Will drops your assets into. The people who have the key to the treasure chest are your trustees. Inside the treasure chest is a list of people who can benefit from your assets (even if is just your spouse or partner). Because the beneficiaries don't actually own the assets in the trust, they cannot usually lose them.

This is really good news because it opens up a world of possibilities if you have a Will trust, such as:

1. You can keep your assets protected after your death if your spouse or partner were to find someone else, or even potentially if they went bankrupt.
2. You can prevent all your assets being lost if your spouse required long term care in the future because they do not own your share of the assets and therefore your assets do not form part of any Local Authority means test. Protecting your estate against care fees in this way can save thousands in fees.
3. You can ring fence assets for a disabled person so that they can be managed by your trustees while preventing the disabled person from losing any means tested benefits.
4. Trusts can reduce the amount of Inheritance Tax your family will have to pay on your death and can also reduce the amount your descendants will pay later on when they die.
5. Trusts for unmarried couples can dramatically reduce the amount of Inheritance Payable, as unmarried couples are severely disadvantaged by the current tax system.
6. People with drug addictions may need their assets protected in a trust. Not to mention young people who have not yet learned the value of money.

It is also possible to place assets in trust during your lifetime. This can be really useful to try to stop someone challenging your Will after you have gone. Lifetime trusts also help you to protect your assets against a range of dangers and can be really useful in reducing the amount of Inheritance Tax your estate will pay.