Trustee support services

We can assist trustees by providing advice in relation to the following, or drafting the required documents:

• retirements and appointments of trustees;
• payments from the trust to beneficiaries, including advancements or appointments of assets out of the trust;
• winding up a trust, such as following the death of a life tenant of a life interest trust, or bringing a discretionary trust to an end;
• partitions of life interest trusts (bringing them to an end during the life tenant’s lifetime, where this is possible);
• advice in relation to the terms of a trust deed, to include the trustees’ powers;
• advice in relation to the trustees’ duties and responsibilities;
• advice in relation to any issues arising in the trust administration such as requests from beneficiaries or questions of compliance for the trust;
• advice in relation to the tax implications of any steps the trustees are seeking to take;
• dealing with the required tax returns that need to be submitted to HM Revenue and Customs on behalf of the trust;
• registering the trust on HM Revenue and Customs’ Trust Registration Service;
• advice in relation to overseas compliance where there is an overseas beneficiary or trustee; and
• advice to beneficiaries, where the trustees are separately represented and the beneficiary requires independent advice.

Our Trusts teams work closely with our Private Wealth Disputes team, who offer assistance in any case where a dispute arises in relation to a trust.