The legal issues relating to heritage assets – including historic houses and gardens, surrounding land, works of art and other contents, and the funds to support them – demand a range of specialist knowledge and negotiation skills that only come with frequent application and practice. In particular, the taxation treatment of heritage assets is both highly complex and very different from that of other assets, and expertise in this area is essential in helping clients to plan for the future in a way which is both practical and tax-effective.

We deal with such issues more frequently than many of our competitors and our team has developed expertise, professional connections and influence that will help clients through this difficult area.

Heritage issues are of immediate personal importance to the owners involved and have a very real impact upon them; they may also be of great interest to the wider community, including bodies with a particular focus on these matters, and the team places great importance on all these factors in framing its advice.

We have a wealth of experience and technical expertise which informs the specialist advice that we provide to private clients as well as members of the art trade in relation to succession planning, heritage and tax issues, including:

Succession planning

• Lifetime gifting
• Gift and lease-backs
• Corporate succession planning for companies, partnerships and sole traders
• Personal succession planning, including Trusts, Wills, Letters of Wishes and Family Constitutions
• Probate
• Chattels trusts
• Gifts to qualifying charities

Heritage

• Conditional exemption
• Maintenance Funds
• Acceptance in Lieu
• Cultural Gifts Scheme
• Heritage Open Days

Tax

• Estate duty/Capital Transfer Tax/Inheritance tax
• Capital Gains Tax
• Income Tax
• VAT
• Non-domiciliaries/structures