Buckles Trust Corporation – Professional Advisers
A trusted partner for professional advisers
When your clients need a Trustee, the decision carries weight for both them and you. Whether you are an IFA, a law firm, an accountant or a private bank, the responsibilities that come with Trust Administration are significant. And the risks of getting it wrong are growing.
Buckles Trust Corporation works alongside professional advisers to provide specialist trustee expertise, removing liability from individuals or firms acting as Trustees while ensuring your clients’ interests are protected for the long term. Whatever your involvement in a client’s estate planning, we can support you or take the responsibility off your hands entirely.
Why professional trustee support matters more than ever
Trust administration has never been more complex and increasing pressures are increasing the burden on professional advisers.
Regulatory burden
Trusts are legitimate and powerful tools for wealth planning and tax efficiency, but the regulatory environment surrounding them continues to tighten. HMRC’s Trust Registration Service has expanded its reach, AML compliance obligations are becoming increasingly onerous, and the perception of Trusts in the context of financial crime, however unfair, means that advisers need to demonstrate rigorous oversight at every stage.
Rising litigation
Disputes between Trustees and beneficiaries are currently one of the fastest-growing areas of litigation. Challenges from beneficiaries, HMRC and third parties are increasingly common, and individual Trustees, including professional advisers who assume the role, face the very real prospect of significant personal liability when things go wrong. The exposure is not theoretical; it is a live and growing risk.
Personal liability and PI cover
Many law firms carry the SRA minimum of £3 million in Professional Indemnity cover, but for many Trustees the potential liabilities can be much greater than that and where a partner wishes to avoid personal exposure beyond that threshold, appointing Buckles Trust Corporation as professional Trustee is a straightforward, effective and reassuring solution.
Who we work with
Other law firms
Many law firms act as or for Trustees, but do not have their own Trust Corporation. If a partner is named individually as a Trustee, they carry the personal liability that comes with that role. Buckles Trust Corporation offers a number of ways to structure that relationship, depending on your firm’s priorities.
De-risk without losing the fees: Your firm continues to carry out the trust administration work and retain the associated fees, while BTC is appointed as professional Trustee. You retain the client relationship and the income; we carry the Trustee responsibilities for an annual fee.
Full outsourcing: Your firm retires as Trustee and refers the Trust administration to BTC entirely. You step back from the work and the risk. This is particularly relevant for firms where senior partners are approaching retirement and wish to wind down their personal exposure.
Partner exit planning: A partner who is a named Trustee cannot retire without making alternative arrangements. Appointing BTC provides a straightforward, professional succession solution that protects the client, the firm and the individual partner.
Independent Financial Advisers
Recommending that life policies are written in Trust to remove them from a client’s estate is a well-established and effective piece of planning, but the Trust itself carries risks that are often underestimated.
Where a Discretionary Trust is established for multiple beneficiaries and one of those beneficiaries is also appointed as Trustee, there is no legal obligation on that Trustee to distribute the Trust equally. The potential for disputes and so also for your advice to be scrutinised, is real.
There is also the question of documentation. Using the wrong Trust deed or failing to draft the documents correctly can expose you to professional liability. For self-employed advisers operating under the umbrella of a network, that liability is likely to sit with the individual.
Buckles Trust Corporation can draft the appropriate Trust documents, act as professional Trustee, and ensure that the governance of the Trust reflects your client’s intentions and your professional obligations. You retain the financial planning relationship; we manage the legal and administrative risk.
Private banks, accountants and other professionals
We also work with banks and other professionals that act as professional Executors . Under this arrangement, your firm leads the estate administration, and Buckles Trust Corporation steps in as professional Trustee once that work is complete and any Will Trusts are formed.
This model, which we already operate with a number of well-known accountants and financial institutions, allows you to maintain control during administration while ensuring your client’s ongoing Trusts are in specialist hands for the long term.
The benefits of appointing Buckles Trust Corporation
Specialism
Our Trust team combines decades of expertise in legal, tax, and Trust administration. We understand the landscape in which you and your clients operate.
Impartiality
As an independent professional Trustee, we make decisions that are fair and in the best interests of the beneficiaries, free from the conflicts of interest that can arise when a beneficiary or connected adviser acts in the role.
Continuity
Unlike an individual Trustee, BTC is not affected by illness, retirement or death. Your clients’ Trusts are administered without disruption, regardless of how circumstances may change.
De-risking
Appointing BTC removes the threat of personal liability from individual partners and advisers, whilst providing a defensible, best-practice recommendation that protects you, your firm and your client.
Collaborative
We work alongside you, not instead of you. Our priority is to support your client relationship while delivering the specialist trustee oversight that neither you nor your client should be without.
Meet the Team
Our Trust team brings together specialists in trust law, estate administration and tax planning, with the breadth of expertise to handle even the most complex arrangements.
Let’s discuss working together
Buckles Trust Corporation is a separate legal entity to Buckles Solicitors LLP – albeit wholly owned by some of the Members of the LLP – and its liability is limited to the cover provided by the LLP’s Professional Indemnity Insurance, and is not regulated by the SRA.