Estate Planning in London
London estates rarely look like the calculator suggests. A family home in Kensington, a flat let through a company structure, a SIPP that has quietly become the largest asset on the balance sheet, and — increasingly — beneficiaries living between London and somewhere else. The planning that worked when you bought the house in 1998 is not the planning that survives 2027.
What's actually at stake in London
There is no city in the UK where the gap between asset value and effective IHT planning is wider — and there is no city where doing nothing costs more.
The average detached home in inner London now sits well above £1.5m. A married couple's combined nil-rate bands cover £1m at most, and the Residence Nil-Rate Band tapers away entirely once the estate passes £2.35m. By the time you add a pension, an investment ISA and a buy-to-let, the slice exposed to 40% IHT is rarely small. Six-figure bills are the norm, not the exception.
From April 2027, unused pensions move inside the estate. For London-based professionals — particularly those who deliberately preserved their SIPP as a tax-efficient inheritance vehicle — the planning premise of the last decade is being rewritten. The instinct to leave it untouched is now the wrong instinct.
Add a non-dom spouse, a child living in the US, a property held in a corporate wrapper bought when the rules looked permanent, and you have an estate that no high-street will writer is equipped to handle cleanly. This is structural work. It needs to be done before, not during, the moment it matters.
Why London estates are different
London property values mean that a single family home can, on its own, use up most or all of an estate's nil-rate bands, before any other asset is even considered. Add a buy-to-let flat held through a limited company, a portfolio of investments, and a pension that has grown well beyond what most people expect, and the estate quickly becomes more complex than most Wills are drafted to handle. From April 2027, most unused pension funds and death benefits will be brought into the value of the estate for Inheritance Tax purposes for the first time. For London estates, where SIPPs and other pensions have often been left to grow untouched precisely because they sat outside the estate, this is a material change, not a technical footnote. London is also where we see the most cross-border complexity. Beneficiaries living in Dubai, Singapore or the US, non-UK domicile questions, and property held through corporate structures for reasons that made sense a decade ago all add layers that a standard Will was never built to address. The planning that made sense when the mortgage was taken out is frequently the planning that now creates the biggest tax exposure. We help London clients look at the whole picture together, property, pension, investments and cross-border beneficiaries, rather than treating each as a separate problem, so the plan reflects how the estate actually works today.
Property values vs. nil-rate bands
The Residence Nil-Rate Band was designed in 2017 for a national average house. London broke that calculation the year it was written. If your main residence is worth more than £2m, the RNRB starts to taper at £1 for every £2 over the threshold and is gone entirely above £2.35m. The fix is not to hope the rules change. The fix is to structure ownership and beneficiaries so the loss of the RNRB doesn't capsise the wider plan.
Buy-to-let and commercial property held personally
Many London landlords still hold rental property in their own name — a structure that made sense before Section 24, and rarely makes sense now. Moving qualifying assets into an LLP or a properly structured company can re-open mortgage interest relief, separate income from estate value, and create a clean route for gradual gifting to the next generation. We've done this work for clients across Marylebone, Notting Hill and Canary Wharf. It is not exotic. It is overdue.
Cross-border families
If your beneficiaries live in the US, EU or Middle East, an English will alone is not enough. US persons receiving UK assets create reporting obligations that catch families by surprise. EU residents may trigger forced heirship rules in their country of residence. We work with cross-border counsel where needed and structure the UK side so it doesn't fight the foreign side.
Where we typically come in
Inheritance Tax Planning
The single largest lever for London estates. Lifetime gifts, trusts, life cover written in trust, and structural reorganisation of pension and property assets ahead of the April 2027 changes.
Read more →Property Trusts
Ring-fence the deceased partner's share of a London home so it cannot be lost to care fees, remarriage or a future change of will. Particularly important where the property value alone exceeds the nil-rate bands.
Read more →Lasting Power of Attorney
For City professionals and business owners, the absence of an LPA is the operational risk no one talks about. A Court of Protection deputyship application can take twelve months. An LPA takes weeks.
Read more →Wills (with international clauses)
A London will that ignores a beneficiary in Madrid or a property in Cornwall is a will that fails on the day it matters. We draft for the life you actually live.
Read more →What we'd actually do for you
A first conversation is free and confidential. We start with the assets, not the products — what you own, where it sits, who you want to receive it, and what would have to change for any of that to fail. From there we map the gap between your current arrangements and the outcome you actually want, and tell you — in plain English — which structural decisions move the needle and which are decoration. London estates rarely need everything. They almost always need three or four things, done properly, in the right order.
Complete the Discovery first - then we'll book your free 30-minute consultation.
Common questions from clients in London
I already have a will from a City firm — do I need a second opinion?
If it was drafted before 2017 it predates the Residence Nil-Rate Band. If it predates 2024 it doesn't anticipate the April 2027 pension change. A second opinion is not a criticism of the original drafter — it's a stress test against rules that have moved underneath the document.
Do you handle non-dom and cross-border estates?
Yes — for the UK side. Where a foreign jurisdiction needs its own counsel, we coordinate with them so the wills don't contradict each other. The most common failure we see is two valid wills that revoke each other by accident.
Can a Property Trust really protect a £3m London home from care fees?
It can ring-fence the share belonging to the first spouse to die — typically half the value — so that share is never assessed for the survivor's care. It does not shield the survivor's own half. Done properly, it preserves at least 50% of the property value for the next generation in almost every scenario.
Do I need to come to your office to work with you?
No. We work nationally — and increasingly internationally. Most of our clients in London 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 London 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.