A ticking time bomb? Receive a free initial assessment of your trust documents

Do you really own your home?

Companies such as Universal Wealth, the Phillips Trust Corporation and McClures have left thousands of people in a mess.

The trusts set up have unforeseen problems when it comes to your property, either on sale or when leaving it to your children.

Have you heard Roger’s story, does it sound familiar?

At IDR we are specialists in contentious estates, including trusts. We have now helped a number of people release their properties from these problematic trusts and take back what is rightfully theirs.

If you or someone you know has been affected, contact us today for a free review of your trust documents.

We can now tell Roger’s story

Roger and his wife Jackie were former clients of Universal Wealth. One day back in 2015 they attended one of their ‘keep it in the family’ seminars in Sheffield.

On that day, they signed their home into a trust scheme, which almost lost them a substantial amount of their estate – 30 years of work, intended for their sons.

Did you or your parents attend one of these Universal Wealth seminars? Perhaps you have signed up to a scheme to protect your assets? If this sounds familiar, you may find that your family home is legally owned by someone else.

Hear Roger and Jackie’s story and how IDR Law resolved their issue at the Royal Court of Justice.

Taking back what is legally yours

We have been working with former clients of Universal Wealth to remove their properties from the trusts and therefore remove any Capital Gains Tax liabilities.

Our success with the first reported Universal Wealth case where a charge prepared by Universal Wealth was set aside by the Court has resulted in our firm representing a number of victims of the Universal Wealth scandal.

Following the initial success, we have now successfully seen two of these cases through, resulting in the desired outcome for both of our clients.

For each respective client, the outcome of our work has been such that the legal charge registered against our client’s properties has been set aside therefore negating the significant tax consequences that go hand in hand with these charges.

The 'Keep it in the Family' campaign

Universal Wealth launched a campaign called ‘Keep it in the Family’, the campaign promised to ring fence people’s assets from future inheritance tax and care home fees. The target market of these campaigns was those around or above retirement age.

Attendees of the seminars placed their homes and substantial life time cash savings into a trust with the firm, who were appointed as executors and trustees over the trust property.

Ultimately, the outcome was catastrophic. The trusts failed to carry out their primary purpose, which was to protect inheritance tax and care home fees, they actually had an adverse effect and incurred an enormous Capital Gains Bill for the investors.

Unfortunately, the cash invested into the trust was untraceable. The company went into Insolvent Liquidation in 2018 and Mr Long was sent to prison for failing to account for the missing sums.

Capital Gains Tax explained

Normally, an exemption in law applied to main residences means that NO capital gains tax (CGT) is paid when a property is sold. However, the effect of the wording of the Universal Wealth charge (which was standard wording used across the board with these trusts), removed this exemption.

This means that, on sale, clients who put their properties into these trusts will be liable to pay CGT on the full value of their home (not just the increase since the home was first purchased). For clients who purchased their homes years ago and with property prices increasing, this creates a significant and unforeseen liability.

Universal Wealth

A ticking time bomb? Receive a free initial assessment of your trust documents

Do you really own your home?

We can now tell Roger’s story

How can IDR Law help?

Taking back what is legally yours

The 'Keep it in the Family' campaign

Capital Gains Tax explained

The universal wealth scandal

What is a trust?

A case study, Roger and Jackie Wade

A case study, Page Vs Page

Trust FAQs

Incomplete trust