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Life interest meaning

What does Life interest mean?
In practice, a life interest (often under a life interest trust) is a beneficiary’s right to receive trust income and/or to use or occupy trust property for their lifetime, without any right to the capital, which is preserved for remaindermen. Often termed an interest in possession, it is a descriptive trust law concept rather than a statutory definition, though UK inheritance tax legislation (for example, the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 on interests in possession and immediate post-death interests) and Irish Capital Acquisitions Tax legislation use it to determine tax treatment. Life interests are typically created by will trusts or settlements. The life tenant may require trustees to pay income and, where land is involved in England & Wales or Northern Ireland, may have rights of occupation under trusts of land. The interest ends on the life tenant’s death or earlier termination, when capital passes to remaindermen. Usage is broadly consistent across England & Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland. In Scotland, the closest equivalent is a liferent: the liferenter takes the use and fruits of the property, while the fiar holds the capital. Drafting addresses trustee investment, entitlement to income, maintenance and repair, and powers to advance or encroach on capital.
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View the related Checklists about Life interest

CHECKLISTS
UK corporate loans: direct and indirect tax checklist for bilateral and syndicated borrowing (interest relief, CIR, transfer pricing, hybrids, withholding tax, VAT, stamp duty, SDRT, FATCA and CRS)

Checklist This Checklist sets out the principal direct and indirect tax considerations that a corporate borrower within the scope of UK corporation tax (a UK corporate borrower) ought to assess both prior to entering into a loan and over the life of that loan... It is designed to be used as a Checklist by the tax adviser to a UK corporate borrower, offering a concise outline of the relevant tax matters and providing space for the adviser to record notes... This Checklist proceeds on the basis that: the borrower is a company within the charge to UK corporation tax in relation to the loan, that is, either a UK tax resident company or a non‑UK tax resident company for which the loan is attributable to its UK permanent establishment (a UK PE), or attributable to the non‑UK resident company’s trade of dealing in or developing UK land; and the borrower and the lender are unconnected parties dealing at arm’s length ...

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NEWS
Spouse life interest over residue with trustee-selected charitable remainder: tax-efficient will structures and residence nil rate band availability

Refer to the Q&A: Which options are open to an individual who aims to pass their residuary estate, in a tax‑efficient manner, on trust for a spouse for life, followed by a flexible charitable benefit with the trustees choosing the charitable recipients? Would the estate qualify for the residence nil rate band? Charitable Will trusts Practice Note: Will drafting—gifts to charities, particularly the section entitled ‘Charitable Will trusts’, explores ways in which a person may place assets on trust for charity. Although charitable trusts are, in principle, treated as relevant property for IHT, legislation intervenes to exempt property held solely for charitable purposes, whether for a limited period or otherwise...

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NEWS
Ending a life interest to sell property and share proceeds: Saunders v Vautier, capacity, deputies/attorneys, Court of Protection or Variation of Trusts Act 1958 approvals (England and Wales)

See Q&A: A and B are beneficiaries under a Will, and B holds a life interest in a property. A now wishes to sell the property and split the net sale proceeds equally with B. How can A bring B’s life interest trust to an end? B has learning difficulties. It is understood the Will directs that certain assets are to be held on trust for B (the sister) for life, with the remainder to pass to A (the client). Where every beneficiary of a trust is of full age and has mental capacity, they can jointly require the trust to be terminated and the assets transferred to them accordingly...

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NEWS
UK Private Client weekly update: trusts, Court of Protection, tax (IHT/SDLT/CGT), HMRC/HMLR updates, pensions, key cases (Hubbard; Patel; YVR), and policy/consultations — 1 May 2025

In this issue Trusts Court of Protection Elderly and vulnerable clients UK taxes for Private Client HMRC Manuals updates Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance Budgets and Finance Bills Contentious trusts and estates Pensions, insurance and tax efficient investments International Question of the week Additional Private Client updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts LexTalk®Private Client: a Lexis+® community New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Latest Q&As Useful information Trusts Insufficient credible evidence led to rejection of trustee expense claims (Hubbard v Hubbard) An account in common form concerning a trust holding development land, with trustees reporting to beneficiaries. The court determined the trustees failed to properly substantiate numerous costs, leading to substantial disallowances. Core principles include: trustees bear the onus to prove expenditure charged to the trust; poor or absent records are no excuse; and the court may grant a...

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PRACTICE NOTES
UK life sciences: 2017 legal review and 2018 outlook—Brexit and EMA relocation, GDPR, Clinical Trials, Medical Devices, Accelerated Access Pathway, SPCs and Arrow declarations

This year’s annual round-up surveys key developments from 2017 and sets out what is on the horizon for 2018. It covers: the decision to relocate the European Medicines Agency the delay to implementing the new Clinical Trials Regulation preparations for the new Medical Devices Regulations the Life Sciences Sector Deal the forthcoming application of the General Data Protection Regulation the introduction of the Accelerated Access Pathway It also includes updates on Lexis®+ UK’s content, highlighting notable developments from the past year and what is coming in the next 12 months. Reviewing 2017 Brexit What happened? On 20 November 2017, Amsterdam was selected as the new home of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) following Brexit. What are the practical implications? The move of the European medicines regulator from London to Amsterdam has several practical implications. To begin with, EMA operations will be affected as staff are reassigned to prepare for the relocation, and as...

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PRACTICE NOTES
Tier 1 (Investor) UK—archived: Practical guidance on AML, client management, ILR/naturalisation absences, dependants, tax and KoLL; extensions/settlement for existing holders and alternative routes

ARCHIVED : The Tier 1 (Investor) category was closed to initial applications, without warning, from 16:00 on 17 February 2022 through Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules CP 632. Applicants with existing permission in this route can still seek to extend their leave, and may apply for entry clearance from outside the UK if they have held Tier 1 (Investor) leave within the 12 months before the date of application, as well as apply for settlement. Extension applications, whether made in the UK or abroad, must be lodged by 17 February 2026. Applications for indefinite leave to remain must be submitted by 17 February 2028. For additional details, see: LNB News 17/02/2022 76. This Practice Note—last updated before the post-Brexit work and study routes introduced in December 2020 via Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules HC 617—has been kept in archived form for historical interest. Anti-money laundering duties and other client due diligence processes, together with advisers’ own regulatory compliance...

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PRACTICE NOTES
Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence July 2025: discount rate, costs/QOCS, RTA reforms, CPR updates and leading cases (England and Wales) [Archived]

PI & Clinical negligence horizon scanner—July 2025 [Archived] ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived and is not maintained. It summarises the principal legal developments relevant to personal injury and clinical negligence practitioners as at July 2025. For developments predating this horizon scanner, see PI and Clinical Negligence horizon scanning and key cases—overview. Key PI and clinical negligence developments The personal injury discount rate—a review In late 2024, the Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood MP, revealed the outcome of her five‑month review of the discount rate, initiated in July 2024. One month after the new +0.5% discount rate took effect, Thea Wilson (barrister at 12 King’s Bench Walk) assesses its impact on cases, the responses from claimant and defendant representatives, and the consequences of the change for legal practitioners. See News Analysis: The personal injury discount rate—a review. MoJ announces reduction in CFO’s interest rates The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has announced lower interest rates for the Courts Funds Office’s (CFO) special and basic accounts...

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PRECEDENTS
Precedent explanatory note for Will with spouse FLIT and children’s absolute remainder: executors, legacies, IHT, trust taxation, TRS and trustee powers

[Your] Will—[ name of testator ]— [ explanatory note ] This [ explanatory note ] sets out the key provisions of your Will in plain terms. Please review it carefully alongside your Will. If anything does not reflect our wishes, please tell [ me OR [ name of person to contact ] ] [ before you sign. ] Revocation When you execute this Will, any earlier Wills or codicils concerning [ your UK estate OR your worldwide estate ] are revoked. As a result, only this Will records your wishes on death in relation to [ your UK estate OR your worldwide estate ]. [ International aspects ] [ [ Your Will only covers your UK assets [ and your assets outside the UK will be dealt with by a separate, local Will OR and your assets outside the UK have already been dealt with by a separate, local Will ] OR Your Will covers your worldwide...

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PRECEDENTS
Will precedent (England and Wales): nil-rate band discretionary trust legacy; spouse’s FLIT over residue; children as remaindermen; wide trustee powers and administrative schedules

FORTHCOMING CHANGE: Potential changes to Wills Act 1837 The Law Commission’s review of wills culminated in a final report on 16 May 2025. Volume II contains a Draft Bill proposing replacement of the Wills Act 1837. For details of these proposals, including the published draft legislation, see Practice Note: Hot topic—modernising Wills and Modernising wills: Final Report Volume II: Draft Bill for a new Wills Act. STOP PRESS: Abolition of non-dom regime and introduction of residence-based IHT regime The Finance Act 2025 (FA 2025), which received Royal Assent on 20 March 2025, implements the abolition of the remittance basis and introduces a residence-based regime from 6 April 2025. FA 2025 makes residence, rather than domicile, the main determinant of liability to inheritance tax. changes to the rules defining excluded property status; removal of protected settlements status for offshore trusts; and modifications to overseas workday relief. For further information, see Practice Notes: The abolition of the remittance basis of taxation...

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PRECEDENTS
Precedent will clause: main residence and contents on life interest trust—life tenant obligations and consent, trustee sale/substitution powers, mortgage exoneration, and pre-death sale contracts

1 Gift of property 1.1 I leave, free of tax, my property described as [ full address and description of the property ] or any other property that I own as my main residence at the time of my death (the Property), together with all furniture, soft furnishings and items of domestic, household or garden use or ornament in or around the Property (the Contents), to my Trustees on the following trusts. 1.2 In this clause, the Property Fund shall refer to the Property and the Contents and all property from time to time standing in their place...

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Q&As
Life interest trust: cash appropriation for remainderman; time limit and SDLT higher rates major interest in a dwelling

Acquisition or appropriation of remainderman's interest Under a life interest trust, the life tenant is entitled to live in the property or take the income it produces. The scenario assumes the life tenant might acquire the remainderman’s interest in the property, thereby converting their position into an absolute interest. In such a case, the remainderman would receive cash in exchange for their reversionary interest. Where the Will trust does not confer an express power on trustees to reallocate or modify beneficial interests, the life tenant and the remainderman may agree a variation pursuant to the rule in Saunders v Vautier, so long as they are both of full age and have capacity. This route is unavailable if any minors or unborn persons have, or may have, an interest under the trust. If there are potential beneficiaries of that kind, an application can be made to the court to approve the arrangement under the Variation of Trusts Act 1958. For further guidance, see: Termination of trusts—overview...

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Q&As
RNRB/TRNRB on second death: Will QRI life interest to spouse; children remaindermen at 21

Where a surviving spouse holds an immediate post-death interest (IPDI) in a qualifying residential interest (see section 8H, Inheritance Tax Act 1984), their residence nil rate band (RNRB) can be increased by the transferable residence nil rate band (TRNRB) of the predeceasing spouse, provided a claim is made in such circumstances as appropriate...

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Q&As
IHT charge on discretionary appointment from pre-2006 IIP (now RPT)

On the life tenant’s death, an inheritance tax (IHT) liability would arise pursuant to section 49 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 (IHTA 1984), subject to any property that was eligible for relief at that time...

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