Estate Planning in Liverpool
Liverpool estates rarely look obviously taxable until you add the numbers up. A south Liverpool semi, a defined-benefit pension from the NHS or one of the city's larger employers, a small portfolio built up over twenty years, perhaps a buy-to-let bought when the city's regeneration kicked off. Each piece sits below the threshold. Together, they often don't.
The estate that quietly grew into IHT territory
Liverpool property has appreciated faster than most national commentators acknowledge. Combined with workplace and personal pensions that have grown for a decade-plus, the typical professional Liverpool estate is now well past the IHT threshold without anyone having noticed.
A four-bed in Mossley Hill, Aigburth or Crosby now sits between £400k and £700k. A buy-to-let in the city centre or close to the universities adds another £150k–£250k. A workplace pension built up over a career, transferred into a SIPP at retirement, is often worth more than the house. Add it together and the IHT exposure is real — and growing.
From April 2027 the SIPP enters the estate. For Liverpool clients who deliberately preserved the pension as an inheritance vehicle, that strategy is now actively wrong. The order in which assets are drawn between now and 2027 will change the size of the bill the next generation has to pay.
The fix is structural, not promotional. Properly drafted wills, Property Trusts, lifetime gifting, life cover written in trust where it makes sense. Done in the right order, on your assets, by someone who understands the rules.
Buy-to-let portfolios
Many Liverpool landlords built portfolios across the regeneration years. Held personally, they are now hit by Section 24 on the income side and full IHT exposure on the death side. We help landlords assess whether moving qualifying assets into an LLP or company structure is worthwhile — it isn't always, but when it is, the numbers are significant.
Pensions and the 2027 change
Liverpool has a heavy concentration of NHS, university and public-sector employees with mixed defined-benefit and defined-contribution arrangements. The DB element pays a survivor's pension and is largely outside the 2027 change. The DC element — including AVCs and any SIPP transfer — is inside it. We disentangle which is which and plan accordingly.
Property Trusts in long-married families
Most Liverpool families we work with are in long first marriages. Even there, a Property Trust matters — it ring-fences the first-to-die's share against the survivor's care fees, which in 2026 can run to £1,500+ per week locally and consume a property in three to five years.
Where we typically come in
Inheritance Tax Planning
Drawn down sequencing, lifetime gifting, trusts, life cover written in trust — structured around the post-April-2027 pension rules.
Read more →Property Trusts
Protect the family home from care fees and from passing outright to a surviving spouse.
Read more →Wills
Up-to-date wills that reflect the family you actually have and the rules that actually apply.
Read more →Lasting Power of Attorney
Registered before they're needed. Without them, the Court of Protection takes over — it costs more, takes longer, and removes choice from the family entirely.
Read more →What we'd actually do for you
First conversation is free. We map what you own, model the IHT under both current and post-2027 rules, and rank the structural moves that change the outcome. Where your existing arrangements are sound, we'll tell you. Where they're not, you'll leave knowing exactly what's exposed and what it would cost — in time and money — to fix it.
Complete the Discovery first - then we'll book your free 30-minute consultation.
Common questions from clients in Liverpool
Do you cover the Wirral?
Yes — Wirral, Sefton, Crosby, and across Merseyside. Most Wirral clients are seen by video call.
I have NHS pension benefits — do they fall inside the 2027 change?
The defined-benefit portion that pays a survivor's pension is largely outside the change. Any AVC or money-purchase element is inside it. We'll separate them for you.
Do I need to come to your office to work with you?
No. We work nationally — and increasingly internationally. Most of our clients in Liverpool 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.
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.