CASE STUDY: Unwinding troublesome EBTS and / or EFRBs

We were engaged recently by a Client who has an EFRBS located in Jersey which contained assets worth around £500k and had loans outstanding to Beneficiaries (including himself) of £390k. The trust had been in limbo since December 2010 and the client had been incurring benefit in kind charges. The Trustees had taken lifetime fees in advance and were managing the trust without the prospect of future fees.

We were able to advise the client how to extricate the beneficiaries from these loans without crystallising a tax charge.

We were also able to free the assets from the trust without a tax charge.

After which, it was possible to wind up the trust and for everyone to move on.

This type of planning depends entirely on the specific facts of the case. However, it should also be possible to act where the trust is an EBT and where it is resident in the UK.

If you would like any further information then please let us know.