We have over 25 years of practical experience in advising trustees and families. We always aim to offer the highest standards of service and care and to go above and beyond the expectations of our clients.

Educating: For families, Trusts can sometimes have a poor reputation due simply to the lack of knowledge and understanding as to their purpose.  Trusts still play a large role in protecting estates to particularly assist families ensuring smooth passage to children or next beneficiaries and better protected from erosion from outside claims or 3rd parties.

Passion for the subject: If you are going to advise people and families in this area of the law, you must have the drive, passion and energy for spending time to educate people properly and fully as to all options that are available to them for their Wills. If the effort is not made to educate, clients are often none the wiser and in fact may proceed without realising there are better options available.

Caring: Trusts are at the core of long term protection and planning.  They can hold a lifetime’s work of generating assets and wealth (and indeed previous generations also).  We take care in managing trusts and moreover take the role of Trustees seriously and responsibly.

Skillsets:  Good management requires a good range of skillsets.  Verbal and written communications have to be clear and effective.  Compassion and empathy are important when dealing with beneficiaries and with trustees’ use of discretionary powers.  Drafting skills are required to ensure documents reflect the intentions of parties.

Transparency on fees: We publish our firm’s costs on our website and are fully transparent in our charges.

Why is experience key?

To provide good advice and assistance to families, trustees and beneficiaries requires not a significant amount of personal life experience and understanding. This is in addition to expected skillsets.  Continuity of service over the longer term will provide a depth to the understanding and needs of the family. Refreshing memories as to the purpose and objectives is very important.

Trusts for Everyone?

Trusts are not just for the privileged and wealthy. No matter your background and wealth, it will often be just as important to protect the estate that you (and your parents/relations) have built over the years and to pass this on to your chosen beneficiaries in the most effective way free from outside attack. Trusts with Wills can be important for people of all circumstances;

We act for

• Parents with children of the marriage;
• Parents with step children;
• Families of wealth who have Inheritance tax concerns;
• Those with businesses to pass on;
• People with very little in terms of assets but wish to ensure their assets are protected;
• Individuals who are divorced or with children from other relationships;
• People whose beneficiaries have disabilities, or who are struggling financially or going through possible divorce or insolvency.
• People wishing to benefit charities;

We have life experience of the ups and downs in work, life, business and family circumstances.  We understand the motives and reasons for anyone wishing to protect what they have built up so that is passed on for their families or chosen beneficiaries.

How do we work alongside your other professional advisers?

Good management of Trusts will often involve other assistance, such as:

• Financial Advisors  (advising as to fund investment and management)
• Accountants  (taxation of trusts and filing tax returns)
• Solicitors  (property work or other requirements)
• Trust Bank Account (to hold the working funds for the Trust)

It takes experience to understand and get to know the best professional advisors. Those can be lawyers (including property solicitors, barristers, family lawyers, or other specialisations and facets of mainstream practice) as well as accountants, financial advisors, surveyors, insurers, and estate agents. Our knowledge and experience as to how those other advisors operate can be just as useful to you as the work that we are ourselves doing for you. For example, it can be helpful to you us knowing the following:

• how the advisor charges;
• their capacity to act swiftly or efficiently at a given time;
• their approach and ethos;
• how they take instructions and hold meetings;
• the extent to which their services are best suited to you;
• and primarily, the extent to which they could bring you extra value through providing their services.

Understanding these elements is an important by-product of our role of your Trust Management advisors.