Matthew Woods

Advising a family on a structure to hold an estate that has been in the family for 32 generations. The family wanted the estate to be held by all of their children rather than one 'heir' but for the 'rules' of ownership and transfer to be clear and fair and ensure that the family asset is retained.

Advising on the ownership of UK property, whether for personal use or for investment or trading purposes and in respect of both residential and commercial property. Clients include investors from the Middle East, Europe and Asia. This advice is often coupled with wider lifetime planning for non domiciled individuals, including setting up private trust company structures to manage succession on death.

Advising a number of clients who are domiciled in India and Pakistan on the structure of their wills to maximise the possibility of tax treaties with the UK applying on death. This can protect UK assets from charges to UK inheritance tax notwithstanding the clients being UK deemed domiciled through long term residence.

Following the unexpected death of the principal of a large trading business, post death tax planning to maximise inheritance tax reliefs, both on death and on the death of the surviving spouse in due course. This has involved complicated tax, trust and corporate issues to avoid significant tax charges on the restructure and a number of clearance applications with HMRC.