Trust & Succession Planning
Assisting in ensuring orderly and effective succession planning sits at the heart of our client work, both domestically and internationally.
Allied to the question of succession to family wealth is its long term preservation for the benefit of future generations or chosen charitable purposes.
We work closely with our individual clients, their families and their advisory teams to understand and refine their short and long-term objectives, to recognise and address their concerns and to build a practical, efficient and robust succession plan to suit them. Understanding what matters most to our clients allows us to create a plan recognising and allowing for specific wishes and aspirations, be those selling or retaining a business, making a retirement plan, gifting specific assets, meeting philanthropic aims or dealing with wealth transition across borders.
Responsibly preserving wealth for the next generation (and beyond) is frequently a key consideration. We provide effective means of achieving that aim and are experts in the creation of all forms of trusts and their equivalents in an estate planning context. Our advice includes consideration of the inheritance, capital gains and income tax implications of any potential structuring.
What sets us apart from other firms is how collaboratively we work with other teams within the firm and with our clients’ other professional advisers. In doing so, we are able to create holistic plans and long-term structures to preserve, administer and enhance multi-generational family wealth.
How we help
- Wealth transition – We ensure that the transition of wealth from generation to generation is effective, efficient and focussed on the preservation of family wealth for the long term
- Tax advice – We advise on all aspects of capital gains, income and inheritance tax, as well as on commercial and property transactional tax matters
- Family governance – We take care to ensure that the governance and administration of family wealth is both appropriate and reflective of the need for risk management. This helps to avoid the unnecessary dissipation of wealth, optimise performance and protect the integrity of both the family and their businesses alike
- Wills – We draft tax efficient wills for clients and advise on lasting powers of attorney and living wills so as to provide our clients with peace of mind and certainty
- Estate administration – We advise on all types of probates and have a particular expertise in advising on those involving complex trusts and overseas property. We are also highly experienced in advising on the probates of international individuals with assets in the UK
- Lifetime giving – We advise clients on all aspects of lifetime giving, including philanthropic and environmentally / socially responsible investment
Recommended reading
Over the next two decades, Africa will see its most significant transfer of wealth from one generation to the next. Yet, statistics show that many family businesses fail by the third generation. In African Business Magazine, Private Wealth Partner, Julie Howard explores strategies wealthy African families can adopt to succeed in preserving their wealth, unpacking why succession planning is more than a financial exercise – it is about safeguarding legacy, unity and values.
Read more 12 Aug 2025 CIOs and tech leaders should heed the UK’s latest immigration reformsThe UK’s Skilled Worker visa route has undergone major reform and tech businesses may be more exposed than they realise. In their recent article for Tech Monitor, Immigration Partner, Zoe Jacob and Associate, Rhona Findlay warn tech leaders not to overlook the impact of these changes, breaking down the implications for roles at RQF Level 3-5 and explaining why CIOs and HR teams must act now to audit their workforce and mitigate immigration risks.
Read more 07 Aug 2025 Rewriting the rules of generational wealth: Hayden Bailey and Clare Stirzaker comment in the Financial TimesIn a recent article by Pictet Wealth Management and the Financial Times, Partners Hayden Bailey and Clare Stirzaker share their insights on how modern families are rethinking succession, governance and intergenerational dialogue. From fluid leadership structures to family councils and shared decision-making, today’s legacy planning is less about handovers and more about ongoing conversations and design frameworks that last.
Read more 24 Jul 2025 A silver lining for non-doms?From 6 April 2025, the Government’s new Foreign Income and Gains (FIG) regime for ‘qualifying new residents’ (QNRs) introduced a fresh landscape of tax incentives. Despite widespread criticism and concerns around the fiscal impact of scrapping the non-dom regime, the new reforms provide significant benefits for new UK residents – including exemption from UK tax on qualifying income and gains for their first four years of residence. In City AM, Private Wealth Senior Associate, Clare Pooley explores how the new regime works in practice, who stands to benefit, and the long-term implications for international mobility and investment in the UK.
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