Trust Planning
Use of trusts as part of estate or tax planning.
Trust planning is the use of trust structures to control how, when and to whom assets are transferred during life or after death. UK trusts can be revocable or irrevocable, discretionary or interest-in-possession, lifetime or testamentary - each with distinct tax, control and protection consequences.
Why trust planning matters in UK financial advice
Trust planning sits inside the broader estate planning niche but is one of its highest-value sub-disciplines. Common UK use cases:
- IHT mitigation - bare trusts, discretionary trusts and loan trusts to use the seven-year rule and exempt small gifts allowance.
- Vulnerable beneficiaries - protecting inheritances for minors, disabled relatives or financially imprudent heirs.
- Care fees mitigation - asset protection trusts (with significant deprivation-of-assets caveats).
- Business succession - share-class trusts ensuring controlled inheritance of a family business.
- Cross-border families - non-resident trusts for UK-domiciled but internationally-mobile clients.
Trust planning and FCA regulation
Pure trust drafting is reserved legal work, typically performed by STEP-qualified solicitors. UK financial advisers can recommend the use of a trust as part of a regulated estate or IHT plan and arrange supporting investments and life policies into the trust, but they cannot draft the trust deed itself unless separately authorised.
Lead-gen profile of the trust-planning niche
Trust-planning paid media performs similarly to broader IHT planning:
- Meta CPL: GBP 35-110 (older audiences, awareness-stage).
- Google Search CPL: GBP 90-260 (high intent, low volume).
- LinkedIn CPL: GBP 80-180 (HNW family-office targeting).
Sales cycles of 90-180 days are typical, but lifetime advice fees per retained client can exceed GBP 50,000 over a decade.
Related terms
- Estate Planning
- IHT Planning
- Care Fees Planning
- STEP