One of our clients, who has been with us for over 15 years, wanted to provide some financial assistance to her son. She had amassed significant wealth over her life and was in a position to provide financial support; however, she needed clarification on the rules regarding this (such as taxes) and the potential consequences.

Although her son is currently in the process of separation, she wanted to be able to purchase a home for his future needs. She also needed to ensure she could help her son but not risk her money falling into the hands of someone else (future partner).

So, she sought financial advice from us to ensure she structured the gift effectively for her and her son.

Having helped our client with financial advice over a number of years, including managing the settlement of her late husband's estate, we were trusted to provide the right direction and assistance for this circumstance as well.

Our initial discussion surrounded the possible options for how money is given to her son.

We talked about the equitable division of funds to him and also how we ensure her daughter is accounted for as a result. We talked about the possible benefits and consequences of each option.

After some discussions, we talked about the possibility of providing the gift but ensuring that the money is still connected to the family group and not at any risk of funds being claimed by anyone else.

We then engaged our solicitor and worked together to provide estate planning advice to help protect her wealth.

In doing so, we achieved her goals of ensuring her son could purchase the property while ensuring her estate planning was set up correctly for her needs.

Being able to ensure she could help her son during a stressful period while protecting her wealth provided a sense of relief and certainty.

Knowing that her goals of helping her son and protecting the gift while also ensuring the estate and her other adult child were treated fairly.