The Six Steps to Strategic Asset Protection
Every plan we build follows the same six steps, in the same order. Most families need three or four of them, almost nobody needs all six, and we'll tell you which are which.
Why an order matters
The steps build on each other. A trust without the right will behind it can fail to do what was intended. Changing how you own your home matters less if the will still leaves everything outright. Gifting is the most powerful lever available and also the one most dependent on having started early enough.
So we work through them in sequence, and we don't sell step two to someone who hasn't got step one right.
The steps
In sequence, as we work through them. Each one links to the detail behind it.
- 01
Strategic Wills
The foundation — not the finish.
Your will records who inherits, who raises your children and who administers your estate. Everything else is built on it, and on its own it's only a foundation.
Read step one → - 02
Trusts
The protection a will can't give.
A trust moves assets out of your personal estate and places them with trustees you choose, on terms you set. It's how an inheritance survives divorce, creditors, care costs and the next generation's decisions.
Read step two → - 03
Property ownership
How you own your home matters as much as what it's worth.
Most couples have never questioned how their house is held. The answer has direct consequences for inheritance tax, care fees, divorce, and where the property ends up.
Read step three → - 04
Lasting Powers of Attorney
Protection while you're still here.
Most planning concerns what happens after you die. An LPA decides who speaks for you if you can't speak for yourself — and it's the one document that becomes impossible to create the moment you need it.
Read step four → - 05
Gifting strategy
The lever that rewards starting early.
Gifts fall out of your estate entirely after seven years, with a taper in between, and some gifts are exempt immediately. Used properly and early, this reduces a liability more than anything a will can do.
Read step five → - 06
Business and advanced structures
For business owners, and estates that have outgrown the standard answers.
Succession planning, business relief, family pension structures and the arrangements that only make sense above a certain scale. Where the first five steps protect a family, the sixth protects what funds it.
Read step six →
Which of the six apply to you?
That's what the Clarity Report answers. Eleven questions, about five minutes, and you'll get a report written for your circumstances setting out your position against each of the six — which are already handled, which need attention, and which don't apply to you at all.
Checked by your adviser before it reaches you. Free, and no obligation to go further.
Start with where you actually stand
Eleven questions, about five minutes. If it shows you're already in good shape, we'll tell you that plainly.
Start your Clarity ReportNo obligation. We'll never share your details.