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Read moreCreating & Administering Trusts
Our specialist private client solicitors can help you to create and administer trusts, protecting your assets and wealth for the future.
Talk to usWhether you’re looking to put assets into trust or are a trustee or beneficiary of an existing trust who needs specialist legal advice, our award-winning trust solicitors can help.
Trusts are legal arrangements where assets — money, properties and investments — are managed for the benefit of specific people, often family members and loved ones. Setting up a trust involves naming trustees (those who oversee the trust) and beneficiaries (those who will benefit from it).
Trusts can be complex to create and manage. They can be poorly drafted, trustees can be unsure about their responsibilities, there may be concerns about tax or compliance and trustee actions may not line-up with the expectations of beneficiaries. This can lead to mistakes, frustrated beneficiaries and the risk of legal action.
We specialise in navigating these complexities — drafting the right legal documentation tailored to your specific objectives, enabling trusts to operate at full efficiency or bringing them to an orderly close.
In what can often be tense circumstances, it’s important to have specialist advisors by your side to cut through the uncertainty and identify the right commercial and legal solutions.
Our nationally-recognised lawyers provide strategic, pragmatic advice in all matters relating to trusts, helping you to protect and manage your assets and wealth now — as well as for the future.
Our trusts expertise is just a small part of our extensive Brabners Personal offering, which brings together the very best in personal legal guidance.
Talk to us by giving us a call on 0333 004 4488, sending us an email at privateclient@brabners.com or completing our contact form below.
Nationally recognised, award-winning trust solicitors
We’re listed as a ‘Top Tier’ law firm in The Legal 500 2025 for personal tax, trusts and probate matters and ‘Band 1’ in Chambers and Partners for private wealth law. We’re also proud to have won the Private Client Team of the Year award at the Manchester Legal Awards.
Our talented team boasts some of the country’s best regarded specialists in private client law and trust administration.
Duncan Bailey, our Head of Private Client, is a ‘Top Recommended Probate and Wills Lawyer’ in Spear’s Magazine’s Tax & Trusts Index and a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), with an advanced certificate in trust disputes.
He is recognised as an ‘exceptional head of department’ by The Legal 500, which notes that he’s “particularly knowledgeable in trusts and tax planning for families, entrepreneurs and business owners”.
Our trusts team also includes Amanda Bailey, a ‘Next Generation Partner’ in The Legal 500 2025 for personal tax, trusts and probate and also a full member of STEP.
Steven Appleton, who is head of our Manchester private client team, is a ‘Leading Partner’ in The Legal 500 2025 for personal tax, trusts and probate with expertise in personal estate planning which is “second to none”.
Meet our trusts team
“Praised as a ‘fantastic professional group of people, from top to bottom’, the private client team at Brabners remains a popular choice for ultra-high-net-worth individuals for complex estate planning issues, tax planning, Will drafting and probate administration.”
The Legal 500 2026
The full range of legal services for trusts
Whether you’re looking to create a trust or you’re a trustee or beneficiary, our expert team can assist in relation to any matter.
- Setting up trusts — Including life interest and flexible life interest trusts, discretionary trusts, accumulation and maintenance trusts, personal injury trusts, bare trusts, trusts for vulnerable persons and more.
- Structures & strategies — Advising on trust structures and strategies, highlighting commercial and tax issues.
- Trust administration — Acting on behalf of trustees to provide ongoing advice in the administration of a trust as well as providing bespoke, one-off advice on a specific issue.
- Acting as professional trustee — Dealing with the ongoing administration, including tax and general compliance.
- Trust compliance — Bringing up to date historic tax returns, registration with TRS, trust accounts, income and capital gains tax returns and more.
- Closing down trusts — Winding up trusts in accordance with trust provisions.
- Reviewing trust documents — Analysing and evaluating complex documents and identifying practical solutions to difficult issues.
- Transfers of property within trusts — Engaging our specialist real estate and property law team to ensure smooth transfers of property.
- Resolving personal issues — When acting as trustees, we can work with beneficiaries to tackle personal life issues, including addiction, rehabilitation, marital and relationship issues, money issues, employment and more.

Setting up a trust
Our trust experts work with you to protect your assets and wealth, so that they can truly benefit the ones you love.
Trusts may be created for a variety of reasons. You might be concerned about how to safely pass on assets to your next generation, fund education for children or grandchildren, provide for vulnerable loved ones, children or partners from different relationships, manage personal injury compensation, reduce inheritance tax payments or protect assets from creditors or divorcing partners.
No matter your circumstances, we have the experience to guide you through setting up an effective trust. The key is to have a clear strategy for how it can best address your specific needs. This is vital to ensure that the trust deed and supplementary documents are drafted to put your objectives into practice — clearly setting out the responsibilities of trustees and the rights of beneficiaries.
We can also advise on Business Relief and Agricultural Property Relief inheritance tax exemptions, as well as any changes to non-domiciled rules that may affect offshore trusts.
We’re trusted by a wide variety of clients, including high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families — many of whom we work with through multiple generations.

Advising trustees & beneficiaries
We also advise both trustees and beneficiaries to stabilise trust structures in times of uncertainty or wind them down in a coordinated manner. We often act as trustees ourselves, which means that we have the practical knowledge of how to tackle major trustee concerns and identify commercial solutions to any issues that arise.
You may have concerns about the ongoing administration of a trust or need advice on tax or compliance issues, strained trustee-beneficiary relationships or an inability to carry out your wishes.
No matter your needs, we can assist. Taking an objectives-driven approach, we consider tax, family dynamics, vulnerable beneficiaries and long-term planning. We’ll work with you to set up a trust structure that truly works for you and ultimately achieves what you intended in the interests of your beneficiaries.
If you prefer a more ‘hands-off’ approach, we’re happy to assist you with the ongoing administration of a trust over many years — taking away the hassle and stress with the confidence that you have experts in control who will keep you updated at regular intervals.
We have extensive experience in advising trustees on their tax compliance obligations, including calculating payable tax, completing tax returns and working with accountants and private banks.
A strategic, holistic approach to trust creation & administration
Our ability to deal with both setting up and administering trusts means that we take a comprehensive approach and can consider the long-term implications of certain decisions when drafting documentation.
As well as trusts, our private client team deals estate planning, probate, inheritance disputes, Will writing and all other legal matters — giving you one port of call for all your needs. Our team includes those with specialist experience in agricultural land, business property, heritage assets and more.
Backed-up by the capabilities of a full-service, multi-disciplinary law firm, we can address other issues that trustees face — bringing in colleagues from our corporate, property or other specialist areas as required.
We also have a specialist trust administrator with expertise in preparing and submitting tax returns, preparing annual trust accounts (including historic accounts) and ongoing trust administration. This offers clients a dedicated point of contact to discuss their concerns.
Working with our trusts experts
We take an objectives-driven approach — pulling together a coherent plan and working collaboratively with you to ensure that all solutions are both legally and practically viable.
Many of our clients are high-profile and we’re often called on to deal with matters that are subject to significant media attention and public scrutiny. We take confidentiality seriously and manage any media interest carefully to ensure the best possible outcome for you. Our warm and welcoming offices in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Lancashire provide comfortable settings for sensitive discussions.
Our close relationships with wealth managers, private banks, accountants and other professionals mean that we’re always at the cutting edge of market trends and developments in trust law and legislation. We can advise you on which types of trusts and schemes are becoming more or less popular and compare trusts with Family Investment Companies (FICs) to advise on the most appropriate route to wealth protection.
We also work closely with many barristers and leading counsel who can provide support where technical issues require. We can also advise on international elements thanks to our ties with the Association of European Lawyers and Eurolegal.
Recognised by







“Brabners handles the full range of personal tax, trusts and probate-related work... 'Exceptional head of department' Duncan Bailey is particularly knowledgeable in trusts and tax planning for families, entrepreneurs and business owners and also advises professional trustees.”
The Legal 500 2025
“Louise Scholes has a broad practice with expertise in Wills, inheritance tax planning, estate administration and trusts.”
The Legal 500 2025
“Amanda Bailey is a ‘go-to person for all complex trust issues' [with] unique expertise in family investment companies.”
The Legal 500 2025
“Sarah Murphy is a very safe pair of hands for complex estates.”
The Legal 500 2025
“Steven Appleton's expertise in personal estate planning is 'second-to-none'.”
The Legal 500 2025
Trusts FAQs

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