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Trusts
Updated: 17 September 2025
Trusts: More Than Just a Tax Tool - Preparing Families for Generational Wealth
For accountants advising business owners and high-net-worth families, the question of how to pass on wealth responsibly is becoming just as important as how to minimise inheritance tax. With property, investments, and private company shares increasingly forming multi-generational estates, clients are looking for reassurance that their wealth won't simply be inherited and lost.
Too often, families keep the full extent of their wealth hidden from children until the point of inheritance. This can leave the next generation ill-prepared - either treating wealth as a windfall to be spent, or feeling disconnected from its purpose.
Structured planning through trusts or family investment companies offers a solution: wealth can be introduced gradually, with safeguards in place, while children gain financial maturity.
Practical approaches you can raise with clients include:
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Education-Led Involvement - encouraging younger family members to manage smaller portfolios, such as ISAs, to learn about returns, risk, and tax.
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Controlled Exposure - using trusts to stagger access to wealth, ensuring assets are protected until beneficiaries reach appropriate levels of maturity.
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Philanthropy and Family Values - involving children in charitable giving decisions through trust structures, linking wealth to responsibility and stewardship.
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Succession Continuity - ensuring family businesses and property portfolios are transferred in a way that protects both capital and long-term operational stability.
For accountants, this isn't just about tax mitigation - it's about safeguarding client legacies and reinforcing your position as their trusted advisor. By highlighting how trusts can balance protection, tax efficiency, and responsible wealth transfer, you can open meaningful conversations with clients about preparing the next generation for stewardship, but just inheritance.
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At Wills, Tax & Trusts Ltd., we specialise in designing trust structures and family planning strategies that align with both the technical and personal needs of wealthy families. Our role is to complement your advice, protect your client relationships, and ensure wealth is preserved across generations.