With more and more complicated family structures, here at Gordons we are increasingly having to advise our clients on leaving their estates in trusts in order to ensure their wealth is protected for individuals who they ultimately wish to benefit.

In the case of second marriages, for example, individuals often wish to provide for a new spouse/civil partner while wanting to preserve assets for the children from their previous marriage. In such cases, often the best solution is to leave the estate in a trust so that the new spouse/civil partner gets the right to enjoy the income from the assets during his/her lifetime, with the children ultimately inheriting the assets on the death of the spouse/civil partner.

In other situations where there is a substantial amount of wealth, clients are often reluctant to leave it all to individuals outright. They want the wealth to be controlled by third parties in order to protect it from being wasted by, for example, naive youngsters, who may be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or individuals facing the prospect of bankruptcy or divorce.

By far the most important decision you need to make when leaving your estate in a trust is who to appoint as the trustee(s). You have to be able to completely trust your trustee(s) to fulfil your wishes after your death.

Your trustee(s) do not need to be professionals or financial experts, but they do need to understand your wishes and be willing to take on the obligations that come with being a trustee. When the estate is likely to be complicated or where there may be conflicting family interests, it is common for independent professional trustee(s) to be appointed.

The trustee(s) need to be able to deal effectively with your beneficiaries (who can often be very demanding!). They may have to make difficult decisions – having to balance the interests of the beneficiaries against your wishes. This is where a letter of wishes plays the important role in guiding your trustee(s) when they are faced with conflicting demands from beneficiaries. As the trust comes into existence after your death, it is extremely important to have a detailed letter of wishes in place that gives guidance to your trustees on how you wish for them to run the trust and provide for the beneficiaries.

There will be tax returns and accounts associated with the trust, which your trustee(s) will need to deal with. However, if the trustee(s) are not able to produce these themselves, they can instruct professionals to do this for them at the expense of the trust. Where an estate is particularly complicated, it is common for the trustee(s) to seek assistance from a professional adviser.

Preparing a Will containing a trust is complicated. However, help is at hand from solicitors in our Private Wealth Department who have years of experience in drafting Will Trusts. If you would like advice or assistance on drafting your Will, please call 01483 451 900 in our Guildford Office and ask for Claire Binyon or Habiba Ahmed. Alternatively, you can make an online enquiry here and we will get in touch with you.