Inheritance Tax  

How can grandparents help with children's school fees?

  • To be able to explain the challenges of paying school fees for grandchildren
  • To summarise the benefits and disadvantages of trusts
  • To explain the limits of lasting powers of attorney
CPD
Approx.30min

Secondly, what happens if you were to lose capacity and no longer be able to make any payments? 

This obviously highlights the importance of having an effective lasting power of attorney in place, to ensure there are attorneys who can step into your shoes and continue to manage your finances.

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However, it is important to be aware of the limitations to an attorney’s powers. It is questionable whether an attorney could continue to make gifts to grandchildren to pay school fees without having appropriate powers specifically given to them in the lasting power of attorney.

Finally, ensure that your will is properly structured so that funds will still be available following your death, either by your children using any inheritance to fund their children’s school fees, or by setting up a specific fund for grandchildren.

Hugo Smith is a partner in the private wealth team at BDB Pitmans

CPD
Approx.30min

Please answer the six multiple choice questions below in order to bank your CPD. Multiple attempts are available until all questions are correctly answered.

  1. Which of the following is NOT a problem with grandparents gifting money for school fees to their children, for grandchildren?

  2. With a bare trust, the funds would have to be spent for that grandchild’s benefit or invested for them, true or false?

  3. If there is a balance left over for the schoolchild, once the funds have been drawn down from a bare trust, who do they belong to?

  4. How much are settlors restricted from putting into a discretionary trust?

  5. With a discretionary trust, the usual seven year rule applies to avoid any IHT liability on death, true or false?

  6. Can a lasting power of attorney make gifts to fund grandchildren's school fees?

Nearly There…

You have successfully answered all the questions correctly, well done!

You should now know…

  • To be able to explain the challenges of paying school fees for grandchildren
  • To summarise the benefits and disadvantages of trusts
  • To explain the limits of lasting powers of attorney

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