Financial matters

Financial matters

Many elderly clients spend a lot of time thinking about their finances, worrying in particular:

•
whether they have and will have resources sufficient to cover their needs to the end of their life
•
where they can get extra finance when needed
•
how they can ensure that their chosen relatives inherit something

The practitioner must seek to answer these and other questions competently in order to offer a rounded service to the client and to ensure that a holistic approach to their needs is taken.

Disposing of property interests

The home is likely to be the single most important asset to the elderly client, both in monetary and psychological terms, and elderly clients often express fear of losing their home or of it being sold and the proceeds being eaten up in future care home fees.

As a result of these concerns, elderly clients frequently seek advice from their professional advisers on how to dispose of their house to relatives, either permanently or so that they no longer own it but can remain living there. The first is relatively simple but often not sensible, while the

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Latest Private Client News

Private Client weekly highlights—22 May 2025

This week’s edition of Private Client highlights includes: (1) the Law Commission publishes its recommendations to reform the Wills Act 1837; (2) Mr and Mrs K v Mr and Mrs Z, in which the court granted a parental order despite applicants’ advanced ages; (3) HMRC issues first individual tax avoidance stop notices under POTAS regime; (4) further analysis of Accuro Trust (Switzerland) SA v The Commissioners for HMRC, in which the court confirmed when a settlement is ‘made’ for the purposes of excluded property; (5) Louwman v Revenue and Customs Commissioners, a decision of the FTT holding that OIGs and AIPs arising in offshore protected trusts are not protected foreign source income; (6) Moran v Revenue and Customs Commissioners, where the taxpayer was found liable under the transfer of assets abroad regime for the rent-free occupation of a house; and (7) the Data (Use and Access) Bill reaches its final legislative stages.

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All in? Court confirms when a settlement is 'made' for the purposes of excluded property (Accuro Trust (Switzerland) SA v The Commissioners for HMRC)

Private Client analysis: This case considered the meaning of 'relevant property' under the settlements regime of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 (IHTA 1984) and, in particular, the time at which this definition is to be tested. The question arose as to whether the trustees of an offshore trust established by a non-UK domiciled settlor were subject to the UK settlements regime in respect of property added to the trust after the settlor became deemed domiciled in the UK, or whether they were exempt from such charges as the trust consisted solely of excluded property. The First-tier Tribunal (FTT) held that whether trust property is excluded property is based on the status of the trust at the time that it was established, not at the time that the property in question was added to the settlement. As a result, the trust in this case did consist solely of excluded property and no inheritance tax (IHT) charges arose as a result of either the ten-year anniversary or capital distributions. The FTT was also asked to consider whether their jurisdiction was appellate, or supervisory only. The FTT held that, while their jurisdiction was supervisory, the questions raised by the trustees were relevant in establishing whether HMRC had acted reasonably and that the outcome (ie that the paid IHT should be refunded and that no further IHT was due) would be the same in either case. Written by Katherine Willmott, senior associate solicitor at Foot Anstey LLP.