Maximum Inheritance Warns That Frozen Thresholds Are Pulling Ordinary UK Families into Inheritance Tax Without Warning
Wallington, Surrey, United Kingdom – September 19, 2026 – Maximum Inheritance, a UK estate planning firm operating since 1999, is urging families across England and Wales to check their inheritance tax position, warning that a threshold frozen in cash terms for more than fifteen years is now catching estates that would have been well clear of it a generation ago.
The nil-rate band, the amount of an estate that passes free of inheritance tax, stands at £325,000. HMRC’s published thresholds show it has been set at that figure since 6 April 2009, and it is scheduled to stay there until 5 April 2031. Anything above the threshold is charged at 40%. A separate residence nil-rate band of up to £175,000 is available where a home is left to direct descendants, and both allowances can be transferred between spouses and civil partners.
The arithmetic is straightforward, and that is the difficulty. The threshold is fixed in cash terms while the assets it measures are not. A family home bought decades ago for a modest sum, held through a long rise in property values, can carry an estate past the threshold on its own, before any savings, pensions, or investments are counted.
“The people who come to see me are rarely wealthy in the way the phrase is normally used,” said Ade Oduyemi, estate planning and inheritance tax specialist at Maximum Inheritance. “They are a retired couple in a house they bought in the 1980s. Nobody ever told them they had an inheritance tax problem, because for most of their lives they did not have one. The house changed value and the threshold did not, and now their children are facing a bill nobody planned for.”
The effect builds year on year. Because the threshold is a fixed figure rather than one linked to inflation or property values, each year of asset growth moves more estates above the line without any change in tax policy being announced. Families who checked their position several years ago and concluded they were comfortably under the threshold may no longer be.
Oduyemi says the harder problem is the absence of any warning. “There is no letter that arrives telling you that you have crossed the threshold. The first time most families confront it is when someone has died and the executor is working out what is owed. At that point the range of things you can do has narrowed considerably.”
The position is compounded by other changes now working through the system. The 100% relief that protected qualifying business and agricultural assets was capped from 6 April 2026, with relief above the cap reduced to 50%. From 6 April 2027, most unused pension funds and pension death benefits come within the value of the estate for inheritance tax purposes, a change already written into law by the Finance Act 2026. Families whose plans relied on either of those reliefs have a materially different position from the one they planned for.
Maximum Inheritance works with clients to establish where they actually stand, rather than where they assume they stand. That assessment covers the value of property and other assets, which allowances and exemptions apply to the household, and what planning remains available. Depending on circumstances, that may involve lifetime gifting, trusts, how assets are held between spouses, charitable giving, or life insurance written to cover an expected liability.
The firm stresses that useful planning depends on time. Several of the most effective arrangements available under UK legislation, including gifts made during a person’s lifetime, work properly only when there are years left to run. Families who look at the question early have options that are not available to an executor working through an estate after a death.
“I would put estate planning in the same category as sorting out your buildings insurance,” Oduyemi added. “It is a piece of ordinary household admin that most people put off, and it happens to be worth a great deal of money to the people you leave behind.”
Maximum Inheritance provides bespoke estate planning and probate assistance services, led by an inheritance tax specialist, to families across England and Wales, drawing on more than 25 years of experience in UK inheritance tax legislation.
Families who wish to understand their current exposure can arrange a consultation at a time that suits them by visiting www.max-inheritance.co.uk.
About Maximum Inheritance
Maximum Inheritance is a UK estate planning firm based in Wallington, Surrey, established in 1999. The firm specialises in estate planning, inheritance tax planning and probate assistance for families across England and Wales, working to fixed fees that are published in advance rather than hourly rates or a percentage of the estate. It is led by Ade Oduyemi, an estate planning and inheritance tax specialist who handles client matters personally rather than through a call centre. Its mission is to help families keep more of what they have built, by making the cost of expert help clear from the outset and preventing avoidable tax and administration losses.
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Company Name: Maximum Inheritance
Contact Person: Ade Oduyemi
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Phone: 02086691779
Address:18, Salisbury House 8 Melbourne Road
City: Wallington SM6 8SA
State: Greater London
Country: United Kingdom
Website: https://www.max-inheritance.co.uk
