Your Options — two lanes on one page

Control How Your Wealth Passes to Your Family

Two very different kinds of trust, doing two very different jobs. Do not confuse them.

Property and Living Trusts are drafted and delivered by us. Trusts used as part of an IHT mitigation strategy — usually involving investment or insurance products — are arranged through a regulated adviser. Both sit on this page because families often need both, but the delivery routes are separate.

Delivered by IMSRegulated adviserThis page covers both lanes — see each section

Property & Living TrustsDelivered by IMS

Trusts we draft and deliver directly

Why it matters

A Property Trust protects a share of the family home from care-fee assessment on second death, and prevents a surviving spouse's later decisions — remarriage, cohabitation, loss of capacity — from disinheriting the children of the first marriage.

A Living Trust does similar work across a broader asset base and bypasses probate on death.

How it works

Property Trusts are typically created inside a properly drafted will — the first spouse's share of the home is held on trust rather than passing outright. Living Trusts are set up in lifetime and assets are formally transferred in. Trustees you appoint hold the assets on the terms you set.

Who it suits

Married couples with children (particularly from earlier relationships), families concerned about care fees, and anyone who wants to keep decisions with named trustees rather than the survivor's next partner or the Court of Protection.

What's involved

We draft the trust, coordinate any property or asset transfers, register with HMRC where required, and support the trustees.

IHT mitigation trustsRegulated adviser

Trusts used inside an IHT strategy — regulated adviser required

Why it matters

Certain trusts are used specifically to reduce Inheritance Tax exposure — Discounted Gift Trusts, Loan Trusts, Gift & Loan Trusts, Discretionary Trusts holding qualifying business relief investments. These structures typically hold an investment bond or a life policy, which makes them regulated products.

They can be powerful, but suitability depends on age, income needs, appetite for risk and the size of the estate.

How it works

The trust is set up as the vehicle; the underlying investment or insurance product does the tax work. Both need to be arranged together, by someone regulated to advise on the product.

Who it suits

Estates large enough that IHT is a serious exposure, and clients willing to commit capital or premiums under a defined structure. Not a first step — usually layered on top of a will, LPAs and any property planning.

What's involved

We introduce you to an independently FCA-regulated adviser who assesses suitability, arranges the product, and drafts or coordinates the trust that holds it.

The two lanes are not interchangeable. A Property Trust for a family home is a legal drafting job — no regulated advice needed. A Discounted Gift Trust is a regulated arrangement — no amount of legal drafting on our side would make it compliant to arrange ourselves.

Delivered by Inheritance Made Simple

This is work we do directly

Wills, Powers of Attorney and Property/Living Trusts are drafted and delivered by us. Start with an assessment so we can see the full picture before drafting anything.

Delivered by a regulated adviser we introduce you to

This needs regulated advice

This is arranged through an independently FCA-regulated adviser we introduce you to. We explain the strategy; they implement it under their own regulatory permissions.

Regulatory notice. Inheritance Made Simple is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Where clients require regulated investment or pension advice, introductions are made to independently FCA-regulated advisers.

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