Individuals who have inherited significant wealth in the form of large estates, extensive land and property portfolios or trusts face a number of challenges.

Those with significant land and property portfolios will have a valuable asset but sometimes little income. They may have to take care of a range of associated agricultural and commercial and business ventures. The tax issues for agricultural assets can be complicated – for example, the special capital allowances and using the herd basis – although they are exempt from inheritance tax. This means that landed estates need advisers that are equally familiar with corporate and personal taxation issues and this is the case with haysmacintyre.

Ensuring that the appropriate trusts are established – whether this is to ensure that the estate is retained as an entity, or appropriately protected for the next generation of the family or to pass on significant contributions to charitable causes – is usually important and haysmacintyre has specialists in all forms of UK and international trusts.

For many landed estates, there are complex webs of trusts for the various members of the family across different generations that have been created to meet a variety of different aims and needs. Sometimes, the various arrangements need to be reviewed and rationalised – both for ease of ongoing management and also to take advantage of new regulations – and haysmacintyre has experience of rationalising such portfolios.

The haysmacintyre team advising landed estates comprises accountants representing different generations and areas of specialist expertise – meaning that the differing styles and needs of a family can be met by different individuals working within the same team. Our team’s support and advice extends beyond the technical details to providing help to younger family members in understanding how to get to grips with inherited assets and taking up the reigns of managing the family's land and trust assets.

Our landed estate clients find it valuable to draw upon the expertise of other teams within haysmacintyre. For example, our real estate team is highly experienced in commercial property matters – particularly within owner managed businesses - and our not for profit unit, one of the leaders in its field, is often asked for input on charitable trusts and trustee issues. Similarly, haysmacintyre financial planning, a joint venture between the firm and one of Europe’s leading independent financial services consultancies, is called upon for help with investments and pensions