Support for you
Asset Protection
At BPE, our Private Wealth team works closely with colleagues in our Property and Family teams to support you when making decisions about how best to manage your assets on purchase, throughout your lifetime or if there is a change in your personal circumstances.
We take the time to get to know our clients and understand your objectives so that we can put the planning and structures in places to support you in managing your assets. This often involves working with your existing financial advisors to minimise your tax liabilities and ensure that your assets can be passed on to future generations.
Our approach is a collaborative one. We have a wide network of professional connections, from financial advisors and wealth managers to independent valuers and property professionals. This allows us to work proactively, creating often intricate and niche vehicles to structure your assets effectively.
Structuring Significant Property and Assets
As an individual or couple who have accumulated assets over time, you may now be thinking of how to protect them or to structure their transfer to other family members.
Your primary asset is likely to be property, either the family home or a wider property portfolio, however you may also have a range of other assets to consider from art and vehicles to high value collectibles and antiques.
Our Private Wealth team are experienced in advising high net worth individuals with significant property portfolios and assets. We will work alongside your professional advisers to achieve your long-term objectives. We are able to construct trusts which protect your primary assets and there are various ways we can do this, depending on your individual circumstances. This could include putting money into trust which is then used to buy property for your children, preparing deeds of trust with passing beneficial interests in a property to family members, or setting trusts for the longer term benefit of your family.
When creating a trust, we use our experience of advising clients with significant portfolios and knowledge of your current financial position as well as your future wishes to determine the most effective planning for your assets. This can include maintaining a lifetime interest in a property and looking at any properties which are currently unused to advise on how best to manage them as part of your portfolio. We will also work with your financial advisors to establish your tax liabilities. There may be Capital Gains Tax implications if you sell property and your liability for Inheritance Tax will vary, depending on whether you own property and if you have children or not. Reviewing your full portfolio of assets with your other advisers will allow us to implement the most effective trust structure for your current and future needs.
We advise a range of clients from business owners and entrepreneurs to owners of significant properties and property portfolios, some with overseas elements.
Declarations of Trust
Buying a property is an exciting step and probably the biggest purchase you will ever make. If you are looking to buy a property with a partner or if someone else such as a parent is contributing financially, you should consider putting an agreement in place to protect the deposits that each party has contributed.
Our team can support you to get a declaration of trust in place. This will specify what each party has contributed, if each party owns a specific share, what will happen to the property and equity should the relationship or situation change and one person wants to sell. It can also include details of how the property will be managed day to day, such as who will pay for what elements of upkeep and maintenance, who will pay for significant alterations that may be planned.
First Registrations
If you are purchasing land or property which is unregistered, you will almost certainly have to register it with the Land Registry. Registering the property will help to protect the land from others claiming ownership, give you proof of ownership and make the process smoother should you wish to sell it in the future.
We can support you to register the property including ensuring the boundaries are clearly defined and completing any additional paperwork needed if you have inherited the land or property.
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Talk to us about your legal challenges and discover how our expert, pragmatic legal advice and broad commercial acumen can help.