The same question as I posed in my earlier post under the above heading applies also to a RP trust under a Will, where it is still within two years after the date of death.
In this instance, if an appointment of the original trust is made within the 2 years of the death to distribute all of the trust fund to three new RP trusts, this would create 3 related settlements. Although the historic value of the other two trusts would be aggregated on any IHT charge event in one trust, to effectively wipe out the nil rate band, apart from this the trusts would be independent from an IHT point of view. Therefore it would appear this would be the best option, rather than subfunds, apart from the fact that on the appointment there would be a potential CGT charge and no hold over available.
Do members agree?
Simon Northcott