Prior to the Civil Partnership Act 2004, the law created a wholly unfair inequality in inheritance laws between different and same sex couples. The only way to ensure that your partner would receive anything from your estate was to make a Will specifically including them. No matter how committed, long standing and ‘marriage-like’ your relationship, failure to do so would mean that they would receive... 

When someone dies, a Grant of Probate (if obtained) makes that person’s will a public document, available for public scrutiny. Using a secret trust can help conceal the true recipient of a gift on death. A secret trust is an exception to the formalities contained in s.9 of the Wills Act 1837. Normally a testator must express his intention to benefit someone in the Will and include the terms of any... 

The system of Inheritance Tax charging in the UK is based on a cumulative method which assesses the addition of successive transfers in order to determined the rate of tax applied to the most recent. While many still see IHT as a ‘death charge’ the tax can also apply to lifetime transfers either immediately or retrospectively after death. The calculation of IHT uses a seven year cut off period...