You have already done the right thing by arranging life insurance to pay off your mortgages, or you arranged it to provide a cash sum and income for your family if you prematurely died, or you want to make sure that your family doesn’t have to suffer extra grief by having to pay the Inheritance Tax bills from your savings and investments …. but, when you bought that policy, did you set it up in Trust?
You will remember if you did because you would have named Trustees and they would have had to read the Trust Deeds and sign the document. Their signatures would have had to have been witnessed, and then the fully completed and signed document would have been sent to the insurance company to be recorded.
Do you remember doing all of this?
Do you know the possible consequences of not writing your life insurance policy in to Trust?
When the policy is not in Trust;
If a claim is made for the policy to pay out the life insurance proceeds, the monies are paid to the Estate, adding the life insurance payout amount to the gross Estate value … which will then increase the Inheritance Tax bill.
If the Estate is contested, everything (all assets, bank accounts, direct debits, inheritances and more) is frozen until the Courts and the Judge grants Probate, causing delays to all bank payments (including mortgage and loan) being made, and of course if the person contesting the Estate wins, the Estate value is then reduced too. The family could end up waiting for money to come in, and then it could be a lot less than they are hoping for as well.
When the policy is in Trust;
First thing to note is that if it’s in Trust, it is not in the Estate.
With that in mind, everything written above under the ‘not in Trust’ section will not apply!
In short, if a policy is properly written in Trust;
All of the money
Goes to all of the named Beneficiaries
Straight Away
As Advisers, we usually call this; Right Money, Right Hands, Right Time.
Not all life insurance policies are in Trust (especially those which were sold to you by online insurance comparison websites, or estate agent insurance salespeople, or those policies which come with a free calculator or cuddly toy …. We know, because, over the last 30+ years, we have had to troubleshoot many of these not-fit-for-purpose products) and yet the solution to make sure your policy set up in Trust, via Assured Protect is simply as follows;
A professional advice service for you
Your Trustees will be provided with proper guidance
Whether you have an existing policy that needs to be put in to Trust, or you want to arrange a new policy in Trust from the start … we do not charge any insurance or Trusts facilitation advice and service fee. None. No cost charged by us.
A win win (you and your family) situation. Or, as one of our new Clients recently put it .. “that’s a no brainer”.
We just like to say … it’s sound financial planning.
Protect the ones you love, not only when you arrange a new life insurance policy, but also by properly structuring it in Trust so that your chosen family, receives all of the money that you know they need, when they need it.
Assured Protect’s Advisers are here to help … with no professional advice fee payable.
For a review of your current policies, or to arrange new insurance strategies, contact us via the form below and one of the team will call you back.
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