18
Jun 2018
Inheritance Tax Planning – The Brucie Way
It has recently been reported that according to public probate records Bruce Forsyth has left the majority of his £11.7 million estate to his third wife, Wilnelia. We understand that the late entertainer left £100,000 in trust to be divided amongst his grandchildren at 21 years and gifts of £20,000 to each of his two Executors. However, the Will leaves nothing to his 5 daughters and 1 son from his previous marriages.
Bruce has been quoted in the past as saying that Inheritance Tax is “a little bit over the top” and so it appears that the division of his assets reflects this. By leaving the bulk of his estate to his wife, he has taken advantage of the ‘spouse exemption’ which means that anything passing between a husband and wife is exempt from inheritance tax which would usually be levied at 40% on anything over £325,000.
However, the fact that almost all of Bruce’s assets now rest with his widow opens up a whole new set of issues. Whilst Wilnelia will be able to transfer her late husband’s unused allowance of £325,000 to add to her allowance of the same amount this will clearly leave a staggering tax bill on her death. Furthermore, where will she leave those assets? The 5 children of Bruce are all from previous marriages and there are no guarantees that Wilnelia will choose to leave her estate to any of her late husband’s family. This could potentially be a cause of contention in years to come.
There absolutely must be some carefully considered choices to be made by Bruce’s widow regarding her own Will and the disposal of her estate.
If you would like to speak to someone about Wills and estate planning, please do not hesitate to contact our experienced team on 0800 015 0340. We have specialist staff based across all of our offices in Huddersfield, Halifax, Wakefield, Horbury, Leeds, Pudsey and Morley.
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