Trusts Solicitors

A trust is a legal arrangement that allows you to benefit someone with an asset. The asset can be monetary such as a bank account or it may be a building, a piece of land or even an antique. You can choose to benefit one or more people (known as beneficiaries) by placing an asset on trust.

A trust is a useful way of giving assets to children who are too young or too vulnerable to manage them at that time yet ensuring they still inherit and that their inheritance is protected. You can choose for the trust to benefit a child when they reach a certain age, or else put controls in place to manage how the money/asset is accessed.

O’Donnell Solicitors are able to provide clear advice on how to create a trust and what type of trust would be best for you in your individual circumstances.

Trusts can become quite complex and will require several decisions to be made. For example, you will be required to appoint someone as a trustee, who will be responsible for managing the trust in accordance with your wishes, you will also need to consider whether you wish to set out clearly who benefits under the trust.

Advice will also need to be had as to whether you wish the beneficiaries of the trust to receive Income from the trust, these are all matters which would be set out clearly within the terms of the Trust Deed. 

A trust can be created in life or within a will on death. There are a number of benefits and drawbacks to each option that we will explain and help you to decide upon. There are also tax consequences Including capital gains tax and Inheritance tax which all need to be considered before creating a Trust.

If you are not certain who you would like to benefit, for example, if you have identified a group of people such as your grandchildren, but that group could change over time, you can create a discretionary trust. This allows the trustee more freedom in their management of the trust.

Our solicitors have vast experience in creating trusts and will always have your best interests at heart. Trusts are often put in place as part of the wider process of estate planning, but our solicitors can also help you create one as a standalone document.