Review of Discretionary Trusts

Thousands of families who set up ‘discretionary trusts’ to allow them to leave property to their children in a tax-efficient manner could miss out on the Government’s valuable new inheritance tax allowance.

The new family home allowance will be available to people who own a home from April 2017. It will eventually be worth an additional £175,000 per person in 2020. This means a new allowance for property owners of £500,000 or £1m for couples.

Under the new rules discretionary trusts will not qualify because the trustees take on legal ownership of the asset in the trust.

A review of these discretionary trusts is advisable.