Blended families are formed when two people live together with children from previous relationships. They are increasingly common in the UK, and can work extremely well. However it is worth considering the estate planning implications. It is possible to accidentally leave family members without any inheritance due to a lack of planning or appropriate legal …
Labour’s new policy on inheritance tax means that more estates could pay inheritance tax (IHT) in future. Whilst there are plenty of legitimate ways to reduce an IHT liability, there’s one which we often forget despite it being very simple. That’s giving money to your loved ones. Although gifting is simple, and might be something …
Marriage might be an unlikely winner from Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ controversial first budget. Whilst there have been no changes to inheritance tax allowances, more assets, most notably unspent pension funds on death, will be included in estates for inheritance tax purposes in future. This means that unmarried couples who might not have seen the value …
More and more people are finding themselves in legal disputes with loved ones over inheritances, new figures have revealed. According to the Ministry of Justice, 80 inheritance disputes went in front of judges in 2012. However, this figure had risen to 145 by 2017, and in 2021/22, it stood at 195 – more than double …
Between April and November 2023, HM Revenue & Customs collected £5.2 billion in inheritance tax (IHT) payments. That’s £400 million higher than in the same period last year, according to official figures. The IHT threshold is currently £325,000, or £650,000 for a married couple. So if your estate is worth more than this amount, you …
Inheritance tax has long been a controversial levy and the debate over scrapping it completely has been rumbling on for many years. So we note with interest the swirling rumours that the government is considering cutting inheritance tax and potentially scrapping it completely. According to the Sunday Times, Rishi Sunak wants to phase out the …
Average house prices rose by 5.5 per cent in the year to February 2023, according to the latest official figures, taking the average price of a property to £288,000. That’s £16,000 higher than it had been a year earlier – and this surge in house prices has had wide-ranging consequences, most notably, pricing many people …
If you have assets such as land, property, cars, money and investments, you’ll want to be sure they go to your chosen beneficiaries in the future. That way you can be sure that your loved ones have financial stability in the future and that you’ve left them a meaningful legacy. But hang on, doesn’t that …
In the past, inheritance tax would have been regarded by many only as something for the super-wealthy to have to think about. But the amount the government has collected in inheritance tax has doubled in the last decade, as more and more people are becoming liable to pay the charge. According to Treasury documents seen …
At the moment, only those who are married or who are registered civil partners are exempt from paying inheritance tax (IHT) on money or property left to them by their spouse. This was expanded to include heterosexual civil partnerships at the end of 2019. But the law does not cover siblings who are cohabiting. They …
