My children don’t need any gifts — that’s the plain-spoken verdict of 80-year-old retired civil servant Blair Hilton, who is funneling every spare pound into trusts for his five grandchildren instead of handing windfalls to his well-established adult children.
His stance echoes a surge of ‘skip-generation’ giving across Britain that estate planners say is reshaping the great wealth transfer just as tougher inheritance-tax rules loom over untouched pension pots and house-price-inflated estates today.
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Why Grandkids Are Now First In Line
Hilton delivered the line during a May 18 interview with The Telegraph, where he explained that redirecting spare income into five bare trusts beats waiting for probate to release cash to heirs.
According to studies from SunLife’s “Life Well Spent Report,” a quarter of Britons over 50 — and 36% of over-70s — handed substantial cash gifts to relatives in the past five years. The average transfer was £20,021, equal to about $27,050.
Nearly a third of those older donors targeted grandchildren, with 40% giving for birthdays or Christmas, 38% chipping in for tuition fees and 27% helping after a new baby, SunLife’s survey shows.
Policy is pushing the shift. A GOV.UK Budget speech by Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed that unspent pension pots will enter the inheritance-tax net from April 2027, a tweak Treasury models say will pull roughly 10,500 extra estates into scope each year.
Giving still has limits. HMRC allows each person to give up to £3,000 per tax year plus unlimited £250 ($339) “small gifts” per recipient. Larger sums escape IHT only if the donor survives an additional seven years (the PET rule).
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Another route—the “normal expenditure out of income” exemption—remains underused: GB News reports 430 families claimed it in 2022–23, while a Freedom of Information request cited just 270 cases, even though the exemption allows unlimited gifting when funded by regular, surplus income.
Family harmony is hardly guaranteed. A Canada Life survey of 2,000 adults last November found 18% have already argued over inheritances, and 24% expect future disputes unless money talks open up.
Hilton’s maths illustrate the mechanics. His £4,000 ($5,400) monthly pension income covers bills and funnels the surplus into the Evelyn Growth Fund Clean inside each grandchild’s trust.
Meanwhile, his two children will eventually split his £400,000 ($538,000) bungalow, keeping the total estate under the $435,500 tax-free threshold once gifts whittle down cash holdings. He said the scheme trims potential tax while giving the youngsters a head-start on tuition or a first-home deposit again.
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This article ‘My Children Don’t Need Any Gifts,’ Says 80-Year-Old Grandfather Skipping His Kids And Leaving His Wealth To The Grandkids Instead originally appeared on Benzinga.com
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