Trusts & Administration

Our Trust team at Coles is made up of specialists who work with Trusts on a regular basis, whether set up in a Will or during someones lifetime.

A trust is a way of managing assets (money, investments, land or buildings) for people. There are different types of trusts and they are taxed differently.

What Trusts Are Used For?

Trusts are set up for a number of reasons, including:

• to control and protect family assets
• when someone’s too young to handle their affairs
• when someone cannot handle their affairs because they’re incapacitated
• to pass on assets while you’re still alive
• to pass on assets when you die (a ‘will trust’)
• under the rules of inheritance if someone dies without a will (in England and Wales)

Trust Creation

From basic Bare trusts through to complex discretionary trust arrangements, our team can create bespoke Trust documents for you.

What Are Trustees?

The trustees are the legal owners of the assets held in a trust. Their role is to:

• deal with the assets according to the settlor’s wishes, as set out in the trust deed or their will
• manage the trust on a day-to-day basis and pay any tax due
• decide how to invest or use the trust’s assets
• Ensure all tax is reported and paid to HMRC.

If the trustees change, the trust can still continue, but there always has to be at least one trustee.

Trust Administration

We can assist with adhoc advice to trustees through to a full management service. We can also act as trustees.

Trust administration and taxation is an heavily regulated and complex area and it is essential that those providing advice and acting as Trustees are experts in this area. All too often we become involved in trusts that have been incorrectly administered or taxed leading to HMRC penalties and significant work to retrospectively piece together the trust history and create records.