We have a will trust that was established for the benefit of the deceased’s son. He received both income and capital from the trust throughout his lifetime and passed away last year.
It has only recently been confirmed that the son lacked mental capacity during the period the trust was in place.
We are currently reviewing previous IHT exits that were not reported and are assessing whether these should indeed apply to the discretionary will trust or, in light of the recent information regarding the son’s lack of mental capacity, if the trust should have been treated as a vulnerable person’s trust from the outset. Specifically, should the IHT be applied to the deceased son’s estate instead?
I’m unsure if it’s possible to ‘choose’ to treat it as a vulnerable person’s trust for IHT purposes, and if we could opt out of this treatment in favor of the regular discretionary trust/relevant property regime.
Thank you.