Lia Russell

Lia worked as a Chartered Legal Executive for a number of years and specialises in the area of trusts. A substantial amount of her workload is in respect of trust administration, creation and termination. This covers a broad range of responsibilities but some examples are included below:

• Registration of onshore and offshore trusts on the UK Trust Registration Service whether these be taxable or non-taxable trusts;

• Preparation of inheritance tax accounts to deliver to HMRC reporting exits and ten year anniversaries on trusts which are part of the relevant property regime;

• Creation of trusts such as lifetime settlements and settlements for disabled beneficiaries;

• Dealing with changes of trustees with the appropriate deeds of retirement & appointment of trustees and updating trust assets with current details; 

• Preparation of trustee tax returns for all types of trust to include assessment of available tax pools & distributions of trust income and form R185s;

• Winding up trusts following decisions made by the trustees and putting in pace the appropriate deeds of appointment and trustee resolutions;

• Holding all parties trustee meeting and preparation of trustee minutes;

• Working closely with financial advisors and accountants to help implement their advice;

• Administration of trusts established on death to include trusts such as discretionary trusts, determinable life interest trust, life interest trusts and trusts for vulnerable beneficiaries;

• Assisting trustees to comply with the Common Reporting Standard and the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act when a trust is classed as a Financial Institution under the legislations; and

• Obtaining and renewal of Legal Entity Identifiers.

Prior to choosing her specialism in 2017 Lia had experience of estate administration, drafting lasting powers of attorney and dealing with financial affairs.