Duncan Watson

Duncan is a private wealth and tax specialist, working with high net worth individuals through his expert advice and experience.

He helps landowners, business owners, and families with significant private wealth to plan for inter-generational succession and inheritance in a protective, measured, and tax-efficient manner.

Duncan advises on wills and complex trust arrangements, succession planning, and structuring wealth within families to minimise the burden of inheritance tax and capital gains tax and has acted for several large family trusts holding substantial assets.

He also advises on the creation and administration of charities, mental capacity, and Court of Protection matters. Duncan is a full member of STEP (the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners).

Work highlights include:

• An application to the High Court under the Variation of Trusts Act 1958 to vary a trust holding a substantial landed estate to extend the trust’s lifetime. The variation allowed for significant tax planning to take place.
• Varying a large trust governed by the Settled Land Act 1925 to create tax planning opportunities for a family, which in the end saved over £1m in inheritance tax.
• Working with litigation colleagues to advise a principal beneficiary of a significant estate incorporating a country estate and heritage assets in the north of England, as well as various property interests in London. A dispute had arisen between beneficiaries, and there were complex issues to resolve in respect of the substantial amount of inheritance tax due.