Post death variations in cross-border estates

Produced by Tolley in association with

Trusts and Inheritance Tax

Guidance

In the UK, inheritance tax on death may be altered or deferred in a number of ways:

•
relief where land or shares have been sold at a loss, since death
•
deeds of variation
•
disclaimers
•
family provision claims under the I(PFD)A 1975
•
distributions within two years of death from a Will trust

In a cross-border context variations are generally mere tax fictions and are very unlikely to be recognised in another jurisdiction.

Common law jurisdictions may have more scope for tax planning since assets usually vest in personal representatives rather than direct in beneficiaries. The USA and France are cited below as particular examples, but local advice is always necessary.

Disclaimers are certainly a more universally understood concept. Any relevant time limits are certain to be different and are very easy to miss.

Loss relief claims

Where qualifying conditions apply, a claim can be made to reduce inheritance tax payable when the value of land or shares in an estate has

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Richard Frimston

Head of Private Client at Russell-Cooke LLP

Richard is a Partner and Head of the Russell-Cooke LLP Private Client Group in London and advises clients in relation to their wills, probate and tax planning issues. Areas of expertise include cross-border estates and conflicts of laws. He was awarded the STEP 2014 Geoffrey Shindler Award and is currently Chair of the STEP EU Committee and co-Chair of the STEP Public Policy Committee. Richard is a member of various professional bodies including ELI. NOOC:. TIAETL and ACTAPS. He sits on the Law Society of England & Wales EU Committee. Co-author of Sweet & Maxwell's 'European Cross-Border Estate Planning' and the international sections of Heywood & Massey and Jordan's Court of Protection Practice and EU Affairs correspondent for Sweet & Maxwell's Private Client Business, Richard regularly gives lectures and publishes articles in Private Client Business, New Law Journal and various other legal journals. He is co-author of a work on the EU Succession Regulation to be published by Sellier and Dalloz in English, French and German during 2014 and is currently working on a STEP badged text to be published by Oxford University Press on the International Protection of Adults at the beginning of 2015. He is identified as a 'leading individual' and "superb" in Chambers Global. Chambers UK comments that "Richard Frimston focuses his practice on international private client concerns, including cross-border estate matters. He is very personable; clients like him and he treats matters with an excellent lightness of touch." Legal 500 (2014) refers to Richard as being 'a highly experienced and impressive adviser'. Who's Who Legal Private Client 2014 says that Richard 'is in a league of his own'.

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