Inheritance Tax Planning in Edinburgh and the Lothians

Inheritance tax in the Lothians - why more families are now caught

Edinburgh property values have moved a long way over the last two decades. Family homes across Morningside, Stockbridge, New Town, Murrayfield, Cramond now regularly sit between £550,000 to £1.6m across the prime EH postcodes. The Nil-Rate Band has been frozen at £325,000 since 2009. The arithmetic has not been kind to the average homeowner.

Add a workplace pension or SIPP, modest investments and a life policy paid into the estate, and a Edinburgh household that never considered itself wealthy now sits comfortably above the available thresholds. The 40% tax above the threshold is unforgiving.

Scottish succession law differs materially from England and Wales — legal rights of children and spouses sit alongside the will rather than being overridden by it. Estate planning in Edinburgh has to be designed for that, not adapted from an English template.

The April 2027 pension change - urgent for Edinburgh families

From 6 April 2027, unused pension assets sit inside the taxable estate for inheritance tax. For Edinburgh families with edinburgh financial-services partners, exposure will increase materially overnight.

An asset that previously passed outside the estate will, from that date, be taxed at 40% where the estate exceeds the available nil-rate bands. Death-benefit nominations, drawdown strategy and the use of life cover in trust should be reviewed in advance of the change - not after it.

The planning lead time is short. The earlier the position is reviewed, the more can be done about it.

Our work across Edinburgh and the Lothians

Estate planning and inheritance tax services for clients across EH postcodes - Edinburgh, Midlothian, East Lothian, West Lothian, North Berwick and the surrounding areas. Will writing, trust planning, Lasting Powers of Attorney, inheritance tax review, pension coordination and lifetime gifting programmes - all delivered as a single coordinated plan rather than a sequence of separate documents.

Our Edinburgh clients tend to include Edinburgh financial-services partners, retired senior civil servants, university and NHS consultants, and long-held Georgian and Victorian property held by professional families.

Meetings available by video call and telephone as standard, with in-person appointments arranged where appropriate. The advice and the indemnity are identical to a face-to-face engagement.

28 years of estate planning practice

We have advised UK families on inheritance tax, wills and trusts for 28 years. Our practice is based in Bournemouth with a Mayfair presence, and we work with clients across the whole of the UK and with UK nationals living abroad whose estates cross more than one jurisdiction.

Every engagement begins with a free, no-obligation 30-minute consultation. You leave it with a clear picture of where the estate currently stands and what, if anything, needs to happen next.