Chris Thorpe looks at circumstances where trusts can benefit children.
As part of succession planning and considering what happens to the family silver, minor children may often be the only successors. The problem is that under English law, minors cannot own property – they cannot own bank accounts, shares of land, property or companies.
Someone therefore has to own assets for them and have the legal title, so the children will be beneficial owners (and to all intents and purposes the real owners), but the legal owners will need to be adults.
Bare trusts
If the asset is to be held such that the child has full rights over income and capital, it would be in a ‘bare’ (or nominee) trust – the adult or parents would be the legal owners (trustees) with the child as the beneficiary. For tax purposes, bare trusts are transparent, so the
