Penny & Hooper were the orthopaedic surgeons who restructured their medical practices for the purpose of (among other things) avoiding the last Labour Government’s increase in the top tax rate from 33% to 39%. The Supreme Court’s judgment was a victory for the IRD and a setback for those who want to minimise their tax burden through means that would normally be regarded as perfectly legitimate.

Back in the Crusades, Knights used to transfer their assets to a reliable friend or relative before they departed for the Holy Land, on the condition that he would only use those assets for the benefit of the Knight’s family members. That is the true concept of a trust – where someone appears to be the owner of some assets, but in fact he only holds them as a guardian for someone else.

There are various things you can do to shorten the process, but even then, if the assets are worth a lot it can sometimes takes decades to complete the process. In this newsletter I explain why that happens, and how certain people may be able to speed up the process so that the transfer occurs virtually overnight. Maybe you are one of the few people who can take advantage of this.

The age-old reason for having a trust still applies – to look after relatives, dependents, friends or people in need. But the current fascination with trusts is driven by a host of other reasons – to protect personal assets from creditors, to qualify for welfare, to avoid or minimise tax, and sometimes simply because everyone else seems to have one.