Caroline Miller
- Partner
- Private Client
Welcome to the March 2025 edition of In Trust. In this edition, we take a look at some key updates affecting private clients and their estate planning.
The Chancellor Rachel Reeves today (26 March 2025) delivered the government’s Spring Statement, which emphasised achieving a budget surplus and reducing net financial debt. Many issues raised in the Autumn Budget 2024, however, and that are vital to the livelihoods and financial stability of people across the UK, remain unaddressed.
The Spring Statement did not impose new tax burdens but failed to improve the situation for many, especially internationally connected individuals considering relocation due to the major reforms to the tax regime for non-UK domiciled individuals (“non-doms“) and their connected structures, effective from 6 April 2025.
Disappointingly, we also did not see any changes to the proposed £1 million cap in respect of inheritance tax Business Property Relief and Agricultural Property Relief, leaving business owners, farmers and rural landowners facing significant impact when the proposed changes come into force from 6 April 2026.
In this article we consider the impact on non-doms, entrepreneurs, farmers and property owners. Read more here.
In this issue…
- Government confirms IHT reforms: what farmers and business owners need to know – set to take effect from 6 April 2026, the proposed reform of the inheritance tax regime for business and agricultural property, which will cap the unlimited relief currently available, has sparked controversy and concern. As the government now seeks technical feedback, we examine the proposals in detail including the seven-year rule, transferability of allowances, gifts, and the impact on trusts.
- Prenuptial agreements: a sign of practicality, not a lack of love – a steadily increasing number of couples choose to enter into pre- and post-nuptial agreements in order to safeguard assets in the event of marriage breakdown. These conversations and agreements don’t signify the loss of love; rather, they reflect practicality and foresight for those who understand the risks and consequences involved.
- The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill 2024-25 – the main aim of the Bill is to allow adults aged 18 and over, who have mental capacity and are terminally ill in the final six months of their life, to request assistance from a doctor to end their lives.
- How easy is it to disinherit your children? – in the coming decades, it is predicted the UK will see a £5.5 trillion wealth transfer through inheritance. While most wealth passes to children or relatives, a growing minority opt to leave little or nothing to the next generation. But how easy is it to exclude children from a Will?
In the press
- Wedlake Bell has welcomed Partner Simon Blackburn, an agriculture and landed estates specialist. Simon’s arrival takes the partner number in the firm’s Private Client practice to 25, with his experience adding breadth to the firm’s already well-developed private client property offering. Read more here.
- Matthew Braithwaite had the privilege of co-authoring a chapter in the latest edition of Business Families and Family Businesses, entitled “Understanding the Wealth Holder Spectrum”. This third edition, co-published with STEP – Advising Families Across Generations, and due to be published in April, looks at developments within the approach to family business advising since 2018, taking account of the current geopolitical backdrop and the shift in attitude in a growing number of clients towards succession, philanthropy and investments.
Meet the team: