Anyone with any experience of MP Estate planning?

Zorb

I've been talking with MP Estate Planning (Bristol) and wonder if anyone has any experience of dealing with them and fundamentally - does their scheme work?  They have a fairly active presence on YouTube fronted by Mike Pugh and are offering what appears to be a very attractive scheme - putting your home into trust to avoid the risks of your children getting divorced, sideways disinheritance, and providing protection from care fees etc; whilst also transferring 50% of the family home to your children whilst the parents still live in the home, but without it constituting a gift with reservation of benefit (GROB). Resulting in 50% of the home being outside your estate for IHT purposes after 7 years - all without any entry, periodic or exit fees.  Seems very attractive and they claim the scheme has been working for over 20 years.  

But the advice from other estate planners seems to be that as far as mitigating IHT on the family home is concerned:

1. Your only options are downsize, life insurance or equity release; and
2. Never gift your home to your children and still live there as it will be a GROB (except where your children have always lived with you and will always do so).
 
So there's a fundamental difference between the IHT mitigation schemes offered by people like Bluebond and that offered by MPEP.  

Emmia

It's always best to be wary of slick YouTube presentations.

Your home or financial assets should in the first instance always be for your use, for care or whatever you need. Passing on an inheritance should be a secondary concern 

Keep_pedalling

Sorry but you are being fed a load of BS so that they can charge you a fat fee. The only way to avoid GROB would be for you to pay rent to live in your own home. You also need to understand what deliberate deprivation of assets entails, and what the risks of having to depend on a cash strapped LA for any care you may need.

Facebook is the last place you should be looking to for inheritance tax planning. 

butterflymum

A read of https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/inheritance-tax-manual/ihtm44001 might be helpful as it explains the Pre Owned Assets Charge - and consider could this apply to the 50% 'given away' that is not in turn having rent paid on that portion by the person doing the giving.

LHW99

protection from care fees

As far as I'm aware that (at least) doesn't work. Happy to be corrected if I'm wrong.

MEM62

Ah! You Tube - nearly as good as FB and 'the guy down the pub' for sound financial advice. 

As has been pointed out, the advice you have received is BS.  It is very rarely the case that a trust is either needed or suitable.  It is just not necessary, complicates things and offers no real benefit.  But, of course, the advisor can charge a nice fat fee for setting it up.      

LHW99

Umm, without trying to cast aspersion, a new poster that offers such a fullsome recommendation in their first post may be mistaken (or worse).

Whereas others who have posted here with more history are offering a different opinion.

As an open forum it is obviously important that anyone does their own research, and IMO it is worthat least checking the Companies House records https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/14774020/filing-history and maybe google for reviews that are independent of the company, eg https://www.reddit.com/r/LegalAdviceUK/comments/1in0i5v/parents_want_to_put_house_in_trust/?rdt=47131 (other sites will be available)

QrizB

Wasn't there another brand-new account praising this firm recently? Or is my memory deceiving me?

If there was, they've been purged from the thread already.

poseidon1

Have to agree.

Two Newbie posters plugging an estate planning firm selling lifetime trust schemes with care home fees avoidance as a primary motive, are to viewed with more than a healthy dose of skepticism.

My commentary on a couple of such  schemes  on mse forums, which were disastrous in their outcomes for the poor families concerned, convinces me that promotion of such schemes by unregulated and unqualified promoters should be banned outright. 

dunstonh

Not sure this thread (or certain posts) will be here much longer.  Spam buttons already showing as being pressed multiple times.

JingleBells555

Curiosity getting the better part... I had to see if my previous post from this morning had been removed.
And it looks like it's missing.
I dont' think I've contravened any rules. No politics. Nothing personal. Referenced research that took me hours to find. All gone.
And it took me weeks to make my decision, and hours of research.
And I haven't heard anything back about the Gray's Inn article.
I honestly thought this would be helpful and I'm happy to be shown the error in my research.
Any advice on having a post remain up would be greatly appreciated.