Correct me if I have got this wrong TFLS (again)

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81964175#Comment_81964175

There has been consultations between the Treasury and pension providers, and I presume experts in probate etc.

There have been some indications of how it will work, but not fully finalised AFAIK.

The main issue in my mind is that being an executor is not easy, especially if you have little experience with money affairs and this adds an extra layer of complexity. The Govt have said they will publish full guidelines- timeline advice etc for executors to follow, but I suspect more larger estates will get handled by expensive professionals rather than lay executors.

gonboating

If you want to fry your brain:

go on gov.uk and try and work out if you need to complete an IHT return (IHT400)

have a look at the actual HT400 form

read the explanatory bible

lie down in a darkened room and have a little sob.

Your point is a serious one. I'm a retired lawyer and after going through this as a helper wouldn't relish taking on the role of executor again.

LHW99

but I suspect more larger estates will get handled by expensive professionals rather than lay executors.

Thus ensuring a reduction in the estate value………..

poseidon1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81964461#Comment_81964461

I can attest that If 'expensive' professionals ( accountants and lawyers) are retained on an ongoing basis by wealthy clients, proactive IHT mitigation strategies will have been deployed over time.

This may involve succession planning exploiting BPR /APR reliefs, discretionary trusts, AIM share investing, insurance based schemes, Private Family Investment Trusts, FORTRA securities /UK OEICS (excluded property assets) for non resident Brits etc.

The key to IHT planning ( as with wealth building/ presevation) is to start as early as possible and to have significant liquid assets to deploy when needed as and when the tax landscape changes. Some of the very wealthy will have been employing such strategies over generations.

It is the lack of significant unfettered liquid assets, that hamper the UK's mass affluent from employing sophiscated IHT avoidance strategies. Having the bulk of ones wealth in the family home and now inflexible DC pension schemes, leaves little scope for much IHT mitigation.

gonboating

Agreed Posideon1 but put bluntly the guys you are referring to can afford it. I have a genuine concern at the large number of folk in the world who struggle in interacting with the state through the convoluted systems that are in place with neither the resources nor the contacts to help them.

Small thread drift - completed an application for Attendance Allowance for a very (very) elderly relation. The form was mind boggling even for me who spent a professional life around paper. My FIL simply wouldn't have got a bean without me but what about the many out there without that help?

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81965478#Comment_81965478

AGE UK offer a service of helping people fill in the forms. As the UKs biggest charity for older people they are a good resource generally for all sorts of issues.

What is Attendance Allowance? | Age UK

gonboating

Just to round this off the drawdown account appeared pretty much immediately and the TFLS arrived in my bank account today so all in all a lot less painful than I had feared.

Again thanks for the reassurances received