Estate Planning For the Middle Income Client 2009/10

Publisher: Bloomsbury Professional; fourth edition paperback 290 pages

This book is described in the author’s preface as intended for those advising ‘average’ middle income clients whose house is worth in excess of the available nil rate band but who do not hold a great deal of wealth outside the family home.

This is a promising start as many clients will fall into this exact category. They do not want to pay inheritance tax but do not have sufficient assets to implement complex tax planning schemes nor do they simply want to give it all away.

The first 21 chapters of the book published under the new Bloomsbury imprint following its acquisition of Tottel Publishing serve as a brief reminder of the basic principles involved in calculating inheritance tax and capital gains tax liabilities in respect of trusts lifetime giving and death estates.

However...