Following the death of her husband, our client found herself responsible for financial matters that he had previously managed.

She was financially secure, with assets worth around £2.7 million at the time, including her home, farmland, cash savings and a substantial investment portfolio. She also had income from pensions, investments and savings that was more than enough to meet her normal expenditure.

Her two main questions were straightforward:

Would she have enough money to remain financially secure for the rest of her life?

And, if she did have more than she was likely to need:

How could she pass wealth to her children and grandchildren in a considered and tax-aware way?

Starting with her own financial security

It would have been easy to begin with inheritance tax.

We didn’t.

Our first priority was to understand our client’s own financial future.

We carried out detailed lifetime cashflow planning, looking at her income, expenditure, assets and likely future needs. This helped us establish that she had substantial financial resources relative to her expected spending.

That mattered because any planning for the next generation needed to begin with confidence that her own lifestyle and long-term financial security would not be put at risk.

Understanding the family’s position

Once we had a clearer picture of her own needs, we could look at the wider estate and the amount likely to pass to her family.

Despite some previous inheritance tax planning, there was still a substantial potential inheritance tax liability. There was also a practical question around how the family would deal with that liability when the estate was eventually administered.

So the issue was not simply:

“How can we reduce tax?”

It was:

“How can we organise the family’s wealth sensibly, while keeping our client secure and giving her children and grandchildren greater clarity about the future?”

Exploring the options

We considered a number of planning approaches available under the rules applying at the time.

These included different combinations of life assurance, investments and trust planning. Each option involved different trade-offs, including investment risk, access to capital, tax treatment and the amount of control our client would retain.

The aim was not simply to identify the strategy with the largest potential tax saving.

The aim was to help our client understand what she could afford to do, what risks she was comfortable taking and how the different decisions fitted together as part of one overall financial plan.

Where appropriate, legal and tax considerations also needed to be addressed alongside the financial planning.

Bringing the planning together

The eventual plan combined several different strategies rather than relying on a single solution.

At the time, our modelling indicated that the combined approach had the potential to improve significantly the amount ultimately available to the family. The original analysis modelled the effect of the different strategies over a 20-year period.

But the tax calculation was only part of the outcome.

Our client had come to us following bereavement and after many years in which her husband had largely managed the household finances.

The planning gave her a clearer understanding of her own financial position, reassurance about her long-term security and a structured approach to passing wealth to her children and grandchildren.

What this case illustrates

Generational wealth planning is about more than inheritance tax.

Before deciding how much wealth to pass on, families may need to consider questions such as:

• How much might the older generation need during their lifetime?
• What happens if circumstances or spending change?
• How much could potentially be passed to children or grandchildren?
• Should wealth be transferred during lifetime or on death?
• What investment risks are appropriate?
• How might tax affect the different options?
• When should solicitors, accountants or other professional advisers be involved?

For this client, the starting point was not:

“How can we reduce inheritance tax?”

It was:

“How can I look after myself while making sensible provision for the people I care about?”

That remains at the heart of thoughtful generational wealth planning.

About this case study

This anonymised case study is based on genuine financial planning undertaken by Rowley Turton approximately ten years ago. Identifying details have been removed or changed to protect client confidentiality.

Tax legislation, allowances, investment conditions and financial planning practices have changed since the original advice was provided. We have therefore focused on the client’s circumstances, objectives and the financial planning process rather than presenting the specific historic recommendations as strategies that would necessarily be appropriate today.

Every client’s circumstances are different, and tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change in the future.

Ready to talk about what comes next?

If you’re thinking about how to support children or grandchildren while protecting your own financial security, an initial conversation can help you understand the questions worth considering.

Arrange an initial conversation

Prefer to watch first?

Passing Wealth On in 2026 – How to Help Your Family, Not Just Save Tax

In this webinar, Chartered Financial Planners Martin Stanley and Scott Gallacher discuss how to approach passing wealth to your family without losing sight of your own financial security. They explore cashflow planning, gifting, inheritance tax, family dynamics and the importance of keeping plans flexible as circumstances change.

Watch the webinar →