A wealthy landowning family
Personal and family tax, trust and succession planning
The Opportunity
A wealthy landowner wanted to provide a tax-efficient income stream for his wider family through future generations over the next 100+ years while ensuring that the land eventually reverted as a unified asset to a specific category of descendant. As well as technical expertise, the challenge required emotional intelligence to understand the family’s history and traditions as well as the custodial nature of family land ownership and the desire to make the right decisions now for far off future generations.
The Solution
Taking into account the existing trust structures, which would not last for the desired period of time, the use of a limited company structure for the direct succession line was agreed to hold freehold reversions. This was combined with long leases to a corporate group with different classes of shares for branches of the wider family. Onward long leases provided an income stream taxed at corporation tax rates with the flexibility for future generations to sell some future income rights for a capital sum. Overall, the family’s inheritance has been preserved for future generations while providing a flexible and tax-efficient income stream to meet current requirements and provide for the future.
The Outcome
The family is secure in the knowledge that their immediate tax and succession concerns have been handled with care and expertise. They have the comfort of knowing that land will stay securely within the family while generating income into the future. Ashcroft’s experience of working with extremely wealthy families and individuals to advise on tax and finance with emotional intelligence underlies our ongoing and trusted relationship with this client and provides the foundation for our future advice to the family on all of their financial affairs.
