Asset Protection Trusts

Did you know that you can make use of carefully constructed trusts & wills to protect your assets from being lost in the event of any unforeseen events occurring which could otherwise lead to their seizure by the treasury, local authority or any creditors?


Long Term Care
Every five minutes someone is forced to sell their home to pay for their care; Local Authorities in the UK force the sale of around 100,000 private homes each year, and this number is growing.

Residential Care Fees are typically £2,500 to £5,000 per month; Care in you own home is also assessable by the Local Authority. These costs will be reclaimed from the seizure and disposal of any capital assets owned following assessment under the Community Care Act 1990 and the Health & Social Care Act 2001, including the family home.

Once the Local Authority decides to assess a person's care needs, it is already too late to place assets into an Asset Protection Trust - the trust must be done before things reach this stage or it can be declared invalid.

All capital assets in excess of £13,500 per individual are subject to assessment under the Community Care Act 1990 and the Health & Social Care Act 2001; under these acts typical practices to protect assets, such as transferring them into children's names etc are routinely reversed as they can be deemed to be 'Deliberate Deprivation of Assets'.


Declaration
At the point of assessment the individual must make the following Declaration:

'I am aware that if I dispose of, or have disposed of any of my capital assets, property or investments the County Council may take account of those resources as if they were still mine and charge accordingly. I also understand that the County Council reserves the right to reassess and backdate charges should any undeclared assets be discovered'

The Solution
You can protect your property and assets with an Asset Protection Trust so that only you and your beneficiaries have access.

You remain in control at all times and you are free to move, sell, downsize or reverse at any time.

Property and other assets held in the trust can bypass probate and is not subject to claims on your estate.

Assets held in the trust are also protected from divorce and bankruptcy as well as from assessment for long term care.


Flexibility
Through the use of Will Trusts in conjunction with the Asset Protection Trust, protection continues after death; on the first death the deceased's share of the home will pass from the Asset Protection Trust to a discretionary will trust for continued family protection.

These trust assets are then not part of the surviving spouse's estate, but (s)he has full use of the assets and they continue to be protected from means testing for care fees.

If the surviving spouse remarries the assets are protected for the other beneficiaries; neither the new spouse or their children can have any claim to them. The trust assets are also protected from any divorce of the surviving spouse of children.

Creditors also have no claim on the assets in the event of bankruptcy.


Next Steps
If you'd like to find out more about the use of an Asset Protection Trust for the protection of your own capital assets or those of someone close to you, call us on 0845 003 0065 or contact us via the button below to discuss the suitability and costs today.