Big enough to cope, small enough to care 
Alec Cameron 
Independent Financial Adviser 
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A trust fund is a way to manage your assets which are of value, these might include cash, investments, land or buildings and could also include art or valuable collections, like jewellery or watches. 

Setting up a trust. 

Setting up a trust will involve 3 roles, you have the settlor, this is the person who puts the assets into the trust and this is usually set out in a document called a ‘trust deed’. The trustee is the legal owner of the assets held in the trust and will manage the trust and also be responsible for any tax payments due, the trustee will also manage any investments. Finally, the beneficiary or beneficiaries, this is the person or persons who benefit from the trust. They may benefit from the income from the trust, this might come in the form of rental income from a property owned by the trust, capital only, where there may be shares held until the beneficiary becomes a certain age or a combination of both. 

Do you need a solicitor to set up a trust? 

This is a document that requires legal terminology, and it would be helpful to have a solicitor advise on the content, it is important there is no ambiguity as this can cause issues later on down the line and be very costly. You can initially speak to a solicitor that works with wills and probate as they will have an understanding about setting up a trust. 

Why would you set up a trust? 

There are several reasons for putting assets into a trust. Here is a list of a few of them: 
• Passing on your assets after you die, (Will Trust) 
• Passing on assets when you are alive (this is often for children and grandchildren and can be used for educational purposes) 
• If a person has become incapacitated having a trust in place to manage their affairs 
• When a person is too young to manage their affairs and the money/assets will be given later on in life. 
• Probably one of the most obvious is to protect and control a family’s assets 

What are the types of Trusts you can set up? 

There are really about 7 main trusts that can be set up to suit the needs of the settlors’ and all of them will have their own specific tax and legal rules, so getting tax advice and legal help is very important when you decide what trust you need for your own circumstances. 
 
Bare Trusts – these are usually for young people and in England and Wales can be accessed from 18 but in Scotland 16. 
Settlor-interested trusts – these can be accessed usually for things like medical fees and can also be used for the settlor as well as the beneficiary 
Accumulation Trusts – these can be added to and also paid out from. 
Discretionary Trusts – these are for more complex trusts where payments are made by the trustees to keep a check on rash spending. 
Non-resident Trusts – used by trustees who don’t live in the UK for tax reasons. 
Interest in possession trusts – this is when (other than expenses) all income must be paid to the beneficiaries when it is available. 
Mixed Trusts – as in the name these are a combination of the above but have their own tax rules. 
If you are interested in finding out more about how to invest and save using these types of trusts, I would be very happy to have an initial consultation, I can also suggest legal help as well as expect tax planning advice from my professional associates. 
 
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