Estate Planning in Cornwall
Cornish estates are a study in mismatch — modest incomes, often very valuable property, and a deep tradition of family land, holiday lets and small business that doesn't fit the standard high-street will template. The IHT question in Cornwall is rarely whether there's a problem. It's whether anyone has done the maths.
Property-rich, planning-poor
Cornish coastal property has comfortably outpaced both wages and inheritance tax thresholds for two decades. The combined effect is that ordinary Cornish families now hold estates that would have been considered wealthy a generation ago — and most have no plan for what happens at death.
A modest two-bed in Padstow, St Ives or Mousehole now sits at £600k+. A family home with a self-catering annexe in St Mawes or Fowey is rarely under £1m. The IHT threshold for a single person remains £325k. The maths takes care of itself.
April 2025 ends the Furnished Holiday Letting regime. Many Cornish self-catering owners lose favourable income-tax treatment and the BPR-style protections that depended on the property being treated as a trading asset. April 2026 caps APR and BPR generally. April 2027 brings pensions inside the estate. Three rule changes in three years — all running against Cornish family economics.
Doing nothing is now an active choice with a measurable cost.
Why Cornwall estates are different
Cornwall has some of the widest gaps in the country between household income and property value. A family living on a modest working income can still own a home, and often a second property or holiday let, worth well into Inheritance Tax territory, simply because of what has happened to Cornish property prices over the last twenty years. That mismatch means many Cornish families genuinely do not think of themselves as having an estate planning problem, because day to day life does not feel wealthy, even though the numbers on a valuation say otherwise. Layered on top of that is a strong tradition of family land, sometimes fields or smallholdings passed down for generations, holiday letting businesses, and small trades that have grown organically rather than being set up with succession in mind. None of this fits neatly into a standard high-street Will template, and generic online Wills in particular tend to miss the specific reliefs and structures that Cornish estates, with their mix of land, letting income and family businesses, often need. We start by establishing the real picture, what the estate is actually worth today, rather than what it feels like day to day, and then work out what reliefs apply, what doesn't, and what can realistically be done about the gap.
Holiday lets after April 2025
If you own self-catering accommodation in Cornwall, the FHL change is the most important tax event in your planning calendar. The income-tax treatment changes, capital allowances treatment changes, and any Business Property Relief that depended on FHL status is reduced or lost. We model the impact on your specific property and recommend either a structural change (LLP, company, trust) or a different planning route entirely.
Family businesses and the BPR cap
Cornish trades — fishing, building, hospitality, food production — that have grown past the £1m mark are now in the post-2026 BPR cap. Succession planning that assumed full relief no longer holds. We help families either restructure ahead of the cap or arrange life cover to fund the eventual IHT bill so the business doesn't have to be sold to pay it.
Cross-border family
Many Cornish families have children working in London or further afield. A will that doesn't anticipate beneficiaries living abroad — particularly in the US — can create reporting headaches and unexpected tax events. We draft for the family you actually have.
Where we typically come in
Inheritance Tax Planning
Built around the 2025 FHL change, 2026 APR/BPR cap and 2027 pension change. For Cornish estates, this trio is the defining planning question of the decade.
Read more →Property Trusts
Ring-fence the deceased partner's share of the Cornish family home against care fees, remarriage and future will changes.
Read more →Wills
Including life-interest trusts for second marriages, business succession provisions, and clauses for beneficiaries living outside Cornwall or outside the UK.
Read more →Living Trusts
Hold a trading business, holiday let or investment portfolio outside the probate process and on terms you control.
Read more →What we'd actually do for you
We start with a free first conversation. We map your property, business, pension and savings position, model the IHT exposure under current and post-2027 rules, and tell you — in plain language — what's actually exposed and what's not. From there we recommend the smallest set of structural moves that delivers the outcome you want. Most Cornish estates need three or four interventions, properly sequenced, not twenty.
Complete the Discovery first - then we'll book your free 30-minute consultation.
Common questions from clients in Cornwall
We have a holiday let in Cornwall — is it worth restructuring before April 2025?
For most owners, yes — but the right structure depends on your other income, your succession intentions, and whether the property is genuinely trading or essentially passive. We'll look at the numbers before recommending anything.
Our family business is just over the £1m BPR line — is there anything we can do before April 2026?
There usually is. Lifetime gifting of shares, restructuring to separate trading from investment activity, or arranging life cover written in trust to fund the eventual bill. The right answer depends on the business — but the time to act is now, not after.
Do I need to come to your office to work with you?
No. We work nationally — and increasingly internationally. Most of our clients in Cornwall are seen by video call, with documents signed remotely or couriered when wet signatures are needed. The advice is the same. The convenience is yours.
Is Sean Kiani regulated?
Sean Kiani is a member of the Society of Will Writers and holds full Professional Indemnity Insurance. Estate planning is unregulated in the UK — which is precisely why credentials, supervision and indemnity matter.
What does a first conversation cost?
Nothing. A first call is free, confidential, and exists for one purpose: to find out whether your current arrangements still do what you think they do. If they do, we'll tell you. If they don't, you'll know exactly what's exposed and what to do about it.
The issues we most commonly help Cornwall families solve
Other UK areas we serve
Your 30 minutes. Simple. Yours.
No-obligation.
The path is simple: complete the Discovery first so we walk into the call already knowing the facts. Then in 30 focused minutes, I listen, answer your questions, and you choose if you'd like us to draw up your Inheritance Plan.
1. Start Your Discovery
Required first step. Complete the confidential financial position review so your no-obligation 30-minute consultation starts with the facts, not the basics.
2. Request a Callback
Prefer to speak first? Leave your details and we'll call you back to talk through the Discovery before you complete it.
You choose the date, time, and format - phone or online. Bring anyone you'd like.