by johnireland | Articles
Most people assume their Will covers everything they own. It doesn’t. There’s one page, tucked away in a pension file somewhere, that decides who gets one of the biggest assets many of us will ever hold — and it sits completely outside your Will....
by johnireland | Estate Planning Essentials
Here’s something a lot of people don’t know: your Will doesn’t decide who gets your pension. Most pensions are discretionary trusts, and the trustees decide who receives the death benefit when you die, guided by a separate document called an...
by johnireland | Articles
From 6 April 2027, unused pension funds and most death benefits will be brought into the value of your estate for Inheritance Tax purposes. This is a legislated change, not a proposal, and it is still some way off — which is exactly why now is the right time to look...
by johnireland | Tax Talk
The Autumn Budget is on 28 October 2026, and the run-up brings the usual wave of speculation about further changes to Business Relief and Agricultural Property Relief on top of the £2.5 million cap already coming in from April 2026. That speculation is not fact, and...
by johnireland | Articles
The Autumn Budget lands on 28 October 2026. In the run-up to any Budget, we see the same pattern among business owners and property investors — a flurry of calls asking whether they should restructure everything now, before the Chancellor stands up. Almost always, the...
