trusts & succession

Life changes. Your plans for what you’ve built need to change with it.

Life changes. Your plans for what you’ve built need to change with it.

Trusts and succession arrangements are often put in place for good reasons at a particular point in time. But families change, businesses grow, property changes hands and priorities shift. The rules change too.

What made sense when a trust was established or a succession plan was first discussed may not be the best fit today.

My role is to understand what you have in place, where you want to get to, and whether the two still line up. Sometimes that means making changes. Sometimes it means planning for what comes next. And sometimes the best advice is to leave things as they are.

What I do

Whether you’re establishing a trust, reviewing an existing one, or thinking about what happens to your business and assets in the future, I look after the accounting and financial side and work alongside your lawyer and other advisers where their expertise is needed.

Trust administration — keeping the financial records, accounts and tax obligations current

Trust financial statements and tax returns — prepared accurately and on time

Trust reviews — looking at the financial side of your existing arrangements and whether they still support what you’re trying to achieve

Estate and succession planning — working through the financial and tax implications of passing assets to the next generation

Business succession — helping you plan for handing the business on, bringing in new ownership or preparing for a future sale

Exit planning — understanding what the business is worth, considering your options and working through what those options could mean financially

Working alongside your lawyer — bringing the accounting, tax and financial picture into the conversation so the advice works together

Some decisions need more than one area of expertise. I’m your accountant and business adviser, not your lawyer. Where legal advice is needed, I work alongside your lawyer — or help bring the right specialist into the conversation — so you can make decisions with the full picture in front of you.

What people ask me about trusts and succession

"I've got a trust from years ago — do I still need it, and does it still work?"

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Trusts set up ten or twenty years ago were often built for tax reasons that no longer apply, or for protection reasons that a review of the current law would sharpen. A proper look at what you've got — what's in it, who benefits, what it costs to run, and what it's actually protecting you from — usually gives a clear answer within a meeting or two. If it still works, we leave it. If it doesn't, we sort it.

"I've got a trust from years ago — do I still need it, and does it still work?"

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Trusts set up ten or twenty years ago were often built for tax reasons that no longer apply, or for protection reasons that a review of the current law would sharpen. A proper look at what you've got — what's in it, who benefits, what it costs to run, and what it's actually protecting you from — usually gives a clear answer within a meeting or two. If it still works, we leave it. If it doesn't, we sort it.

"I want to pass my business to my kids one day — where do I even start?"

Earlier than you think, and in smaller steps than you'd expect. Succession isn't a single event; it's a five-to-ten-year conversation that shapes how the business is structured, how it's valued, how tax is planned, and how the next generation is prepared. Starting the conversation now — even if the handover is a decade away — is what makes it work when the time comes. The alternative is a rushed transition at exactly the wrong moment.

"I want to pass my business to my kids one day — where do I even start?"

Earlier than you think, and in smaller steps than you'd expect. Succession isn't a single event; it's a five-to-ten-year conversation that shapes how the business is structured, how it's valued, how tax is planned, and how the next generation is prepared. Starting the conversation now — even if the handover is a decade away — is what makes it work when the time comes. The alternative is a rushed transition at exactly the wrong moment.

"I'm getting ready to sell my business — what do I need to think about?"

More than most people realise, and earlier than most people start. What the business is worth, how the sale is structured, what tax you'll pay, what happens to any trust or company that owns it, what you actually walk away with — these all get decided in the months before a sale, not on the day of it. If a sale's on your horizon, come and talk before you go to market. It usually changes the number in your pocket materially.

"I'm getting ready to sell my business — what do I need to think about?"

More than most people realise, and earlier than most people start. What the business is worth, how the sale is structured, what tax you'll pay, what happens to any trust or company that owns it, what you actually walk away with — these all get decided in the months before a sale, not on the day of it. If a sale's on your horizon, come and talk before you go to market. It usually changes the number in your pocket materially.

If you've got a trust to review, a business to pass on, or an estate to plan — let's talk. First conversation's on me, and there's no pressure to become a client at the end of it.