There is a secret about Inheritance Tax planning that the UK government doesn’t want you to know! With house prices increasing, more and more hard working UK families are having to pay onerous tax bills as a result of the death of a loved one. In fact, the Office for National Statistics show that the final Inheritance Tax bill in 2015/16 is expected to be £4.6 Billion compared to £3.8 Billion in 2014/15 with each family paying an average of £236,000 on the estate of the deceased.

And with that

Great news!

Average life expectancy across the UK as a whole has risen from 75.9 years in 1990 to a current average of 81.3 years.

Those are fantastic numbers if you are fit and healthy but what if you have to go into care? What if you have to spend a long time in care? How will it be paid for?

Firstly, let’s look at a very typical situation that a number of older couples may find themselves in.

Mary and Peter are in their early 70s, married and own a house on a