Estate planning for car collectors starts with a simple question: who gets the keys when you are no longer here? For an enthusiast, a car can hold years of work, family memories and a significant financial value. Your family needs to know how to handle all three. Perhaps it is the classic you spent ten years restoring, the Porsche you promised yourself you would own one day, or the Land Rover that has become part of the family. You may own one much-loved vehicle or an entire collection spread across several countries. You know its history, where the documents are, which specialist understands it and what those boxes of spare parts contain. Could your family find that information without you? Classic car inheritance needs both valid legal arrangements and practical instructions. These seven checks will help you leave a useful roadmap for the people who must protect, transfer or sell your vehicles. In this guide Confirm ownership and finance Create a vehicle and collection schedule Record value and provenance Put inheritance wishes into legal arrangements Plan insurance storage and access Coordinate vehicles across borders Give your executor a specialist roadmap Common questions about classic car inheritance 1 Confirm ownership before promising a car You may have told your daughter, son, spouse or friend, “The E-Type is yours when I am gone.” That is an important conversation, but the estate arrangements must support the gift. First establish what you actually own. Keep the purchase agreement, invoice or other evidence of ownership, along with any finance paperwork. Record co-owners and whether a company or trust owns the vehicle. A car you use under a lease or hire-purchase arrangement may not belong to you outright. Registration records also need careful interpretation. In the UK, the V5C identifies the registered keeper; that person is not necessarily the legal owner. This distinction is explained in the government guidance on motor vehicle ownership. Other countries have their own registration and title systems. Your adviser should establish which interest can pass through your estate and how any loan, security interest or co-ownership affects it. The intended beneficiary, the person authorised to administer the estate and the vehicle-registration process are separate questions. The documents required will depend on the jurisdiction and the ownership arrangements. Estate planning for car collectors becomes much easier when those questions are answered while the owner can still explain the paperwork. 2 Create a vehicle and collection schedule A collection can contain much more than the cars themselves. An executor may encounter spare engines, original parts, tools, trophies, memorabilia and valuable registration numbers. Label them so their connection to a particular vehicle is clear. Maintain a dated schedule for each vehicle. Include: Make, model, year, registration number and VIN or chassis number. Legal owner, any co-owners and the location of ownership documents. Country of registration and the address where the vehicle is actually stored. Insurance provider, policy reference, renewal date and broker contact. Finance provider, agreement details and where to find the current balance. Latest valuation, its date and the specialist who prepared it. Location of keys, service records, restoration files and associated parts. Use one entry per vehicle and identify related items separately where necessary. A photograph of an engine or a labelled box can be more useful than a description your family cannot recognise. Keep the schedule in a secure estate file and tell your executor how to access it. Review it whenever you buy, sell, move or refinance a car. Updating an inventory records what exists; it does not automatically change a gift in your Will. Personalised registrations need their own check. DVLA’s bereavement guidance says the steps to retain a personalised number must be taken before selling the vehicle. Check the applicable local process rather than assuming every plate can pass with the car. 3 Record the value and the story behind it Your family may know what you paid for a car. They may not know how a particular specification, documented history or restoration affects its current market value. Identify a suitably experienced valuer and keep supporting records together. These may include purchase documents, service history, restoration invoices, photographs, authenticity certificates and records of significant events. Make clear which original components should remain with the vehicle. For planning, a dated estimate is a useful starting point. When an estate is administered, an appropriate valuation may be needed under local rules. An insurance agreed value or the amount spent on restoration should not simply be assumed to be the value required for an estate return. For example, HMRC’s IHT407 form includes vintage and classic cars and asks for their open-market value at the date of death. Its fields also record condition and mileage. This is a UK reporting example; other jurisdictions may apply different requirements. If a sale is likely, leave contacts for a specialist dealer, valuer or auction adviser. Ask your executor to consider the sale route, fees, transport, storage costs and realistic timing. A quick offer may be reasonable, but it should be considered with an understanding of the vehicle and the estate’s needs. You can also explain the personal history. A short note about the restoration or a memorable family journey helps relatives understand why a particular car matters to you. 4 Make classic car inheritance wishes legally workable Decide what you would like to happen to each vehicle. Perhaps one child receives the Porsche, another receives the Jaguar and the remaining cars are sold. Perhaps your family would prefer sale proceeds to the responsibility of owning a collection. Discuss those choices with the intended recipients. Keeping a car may require storage, maintenance, insurance and transport that they do not want or cannot afford. Ask your adviser to put the intended gifts into a valid Will or another suitable legal arrangement. They should consider debts, administration expenses, family rights and the law governing the estate. A specific gift cannot guarantee that a vehicle will be available for distribution in every circumstance. Be clear about the associated parts, documents and registration rights. Also

Dying without a will abroad can leave your family relying on inheritance rules you never chose, potentially across more than one legal system. You already have an estate plan. The question is: did you choose it? That is the uncomfortable idea behind intestacy. If you have not left a valid Will, the applicable law provides a default order of inheritance. It recognises particular relationships and assigns entitlements according to rules, rather than asking what you intended. Those rules cannot know that one child needs more support, that you promised a niece a piece of jewellery, or that your partner has shared your life for 15 years without marriage. For internationally mobile families, intestacy rules for expats also raise another question: which law governs which assets? A Will is an important part of the answer. It needs to be considered alongside ownership, beneficiary nominations, family rights and the legal systems connected to your estate. In this article What dying without a will abroad means 1 My spouse will inherit everything 2 Only the country where I live matters 3 My family knows what I want 4 My long term partner is already protected 5 A Will controls every asset 6 My family can sort out the paperwork 7 Someone I know will inherit if I have no close relatives What to review in an international estate plan Frequently asked questions What dying without a will abroad actually means Dying without a valid Will is usually described as dying intestate. A person can also leave a valid Will that fails to dispose of all their estate, creating a partial intestacy. The applicable succession rules determine who inherits the assets covered by those rules. Some property may pass through joint ownership, a trust or another arrangement instead. The inheritance decision and the administration process are separate matters. Your family may still need to identify assets, establish who is entitled to act and obtain the authority required by courts or financial institutions. For example, the Hong Kong Judiciary explains that, without a Will, the law sets both the order of priority for an administration application and the manner of distribution. Dying without a will abroad therefore raises practical questions about access and authority as well as the eventual beneficiaries. 1 My spouse will inherit everything This is a reassuring assumption until the applicable rules say otherwise. Marriage does not universally give a surviving spouse the entire estate when children or other entitled relatives survive. Singapore Where Singapore’s Intestate Succession Act applies to a non-Muslim estate and the deceased leaves a spouse and qualifying children, the spouse receives 50% and the children share the other 50%. Descendants of a deceased child may take that child’s share. Singapore Courts sets out the distribution. The Act does not apply to Muslims. Their estates are subject to a different inheritance framework. Hong Kong Where Hong Kong’s intestacy rules apply and a spouse and descendants survive, the spouse receives personal chattels, a statutory legacy and a share of the remaining estate. Descendants share the balance. The Law Reform Commission’s report describes this structure. These are illustrations of local rules, rather than predictions for every person living in either place. The law governing a particular estate must be established first. If your intention is to provide your spouse with a particular home, income or level of support, check whether the legal arrangements actually achieve it. 2 Intestacy rules for expats depend on more than an address Imagine someone born in the UK, who worked in Hong Kong for years, now lives in Canada and still owns an apartment overseas. Their children live in different countries. Moving house does not answer every succession question. Relevant factors can include domicile, habitual residence, nationality, the location and ownership of property, and the conflict of laws rules used by the authorities involved. Domicile is a legal connection to a country and is not necessarily the same as your current address or tax residence. The law deciding who inherits and the rules deciding which taxes arise must also be considered separately. Dying without a will abroad may involve more than one jurisdiction. Equally, it would be inaccurate to assume that every asset automatically follows the law of the country where it is located. Reserved inheritance rights in Spain and Portugal Where Spanish succession law governs, certain family members can have protected inheritance rights. Spain also has different regional succession systems. The European e-Justice Portal explains those restrictions. Portugal likewise recognises reserved rights for certain heirs, including a spouse, descendants and ascendants, as described in its official succession guidance. These restrictions, often called forced heirship, can matter even when a Will exists. They are different from the default distribution rules applying when there is no valid Will. In participating EU countries, the Succession Regulation generally uses habitual residence as its starting point and allows a person to choose the law of a nationality they hold. A choice needs to be properly expressed in a Will or other qualifying disposition. Denmark and Ireland do not participate, and inheritance tax is outside the Regulation. Your Europe explains the framework. That option requires advice on your circumstances and the jurisdictions involved. It does not make an overseas Will a universal solution. 3 My family knows what I want Your family may understand your wishes perfectly and still lack the legal arrangements needed to carry them out. Suppose you have told your children that Sarah should inherit the business because she runs it, James should receive the house, and the remaining assets should be shared. That conversation helps explain your intentions. It does not, by itself, establish a valid testamentary gift or replace the rules that apply to your estate. Dying without a will abroad can mean relatives have to work with statutory entitlements that distribute those assets differently. Beneficiaries might sometimes agree changes using local legal procedures, but agreement, capacity and tax consequences cannot be assumed. A business needs particular attention. Inheriting shares and having authority to operate the company are different questions. Review company documents and any succession

For years, pensions have occupied a particular position in many estate plans. Inheritance Tax on Pensions 2027 . Use other assets during retirement. Preserve the pension where appropriate. Nominate beneficiaries. Potentially pass the remaining pension wealth to the next generation outside the estate for Inheritance Tax on Pensions 2027 purposes. From 6 April 2027, that assumption changes significantly. Most unused pension funds and pension death benefits will be brought within the value of a deceased person’s estate for UK Inheritance Tax purposes. And this is no longer simply a proposal. The changes were legislated for in Finance Act 2026, and HMRC has been publishing the regulations and technical details needed to make the new system operate from April 2027. On 27 August 2026, HMRC published its second technical note explaining more about how the new pension Inheritance Tax regime will work. For families with significant pension wealth, the question is therefore changing. It is no longer simply: Will pensions become subject to Inheritance Tax? It is increasingly: How should my wider estate plan change before they do? What is changing to Inheritance Tax on pensions in 2027? For deaths occurring on or after 6 April 2027, most unused pension funds and pension death benefits will be included when calculating the value of a person’s estate for Inheritance Tax. This represents an important departure from the current treatment of many discretionary pension schemes. At present, unused funds in many discretionary pension arrangements can generally pass to beneficiaries without being included in the deceased member’s estate for IHT. From April 2027, most of that inheritable pension wealth will instead be brought into the estate calculation. That does not mean every pension will suddenly suffer a 40% tax charge. Inheritance Tax still depends on the overall circumstances of the estate, the available nil-rate bands, exemptions, reliefs and who ultimately receives the assets. But it does mean that an asset many families may previously have considered separately from their estate will need to be considered alongside their property, investments, cash and other wealth. For larger estates, that can materially alter the calculation. How many estates could be affected? HMRC’s own estimates illustrate the potential scale. It estimates that approximately 213,000 estates will contain inheritable pension wealth in 2027-28. Of those, approximately 10,500 estates are expected to become liable for Inheritance Tax where they would not previously have had a liability, while around 38,500 estates are expected to pay more IHT. Among affected estates, HMRC estimates that the average IHT liability could increase by around £34,000 when pension assets are included. Importantly, HMRC says these are static estimates. They do not account for people changing their behaviour or estate planning before the rules take effect, so the projections should be viewed as an upper limit rather than a prediction of precisely what will happen. That final point matters. The rules are changing, but individuals still have time to understand how the change affects their particular circumstances. The pension may no longer be separate from the estate Consider why this matters from an estate-planning perspective. Someone might own a home, an investment portfolio, cash deposits, other property and a substantial pension. Historically, their estate-planning strategy may have treated the pension differently from those other assets. The pension might have been preserved while cash and investments were spent during retirement. That decision could have made sense partly because unused discretionary pension wealth could potentially pass outside the estate for IHT purposes. From April 2027, preserving the pension simply because it sits outside the IHT estate will no longer provide the same rationale in many cases. That does not automatically mean the pension should be spent first. It means the relationship between the pension and every other asset deserves reconsideration. Why simply withdrawing your pension may not solve the problem One reaction to the new rules might be: Should I simply take the money out of my pension before April 2027? That is rarely a question that should be answered in isolation. If pension money is withdrawn and simply moved into a bank or investment account owned personally, it may remain within the individual’s estate anyway. Depending on the withdrawal and the individual’s circumstances, there may also be Income Tax and investment consequences. The new rules therefore do not create a universal instruction to empty pensions. Instead, they make asset sequencing more important. Which assets should fund retirement expenditure? Which assets should potentially be retained? Are lifetime gifts appropriate? How should pension nominations interact with a will? How much liquidity might an estate need? And how do those decisions interact with the individual’s tax residence and wider family circumstances? Those are estate-planning questions, not simply pension questions. Who will be responsible for dealing with the tax? This is one area where the government’s approach changed during the consultation process. The original proposal placed more responsibility on pension scheme administrators. Under the final structure, personal representatives will generally be responsible for reporting and paying the Inheritance Tax attributable to unused pension funds and pension death benefits. That creates a practical issue. The personal representatives administering the estate need information about the pension. The pension administrator needs information relating to the estate and beneficiaries. HMRC therefore needs a system through which information can move between all the relevant parties. The information-sharing regulations required to support that process were laid in July 2026, and HMRC’s August technical note provides further information about how the process is intended to operate. For families, this highlights something often overlooked in estate planning: administration matters as well as tax. A theoretically efficient estate plan can still cause considerable difficulty if executors cannot locate assets, establish pension arrangements or identify the relevant beneficiaries. HMRC has introduced a mechanism to help pay the tax The new system also recognises a potential cash-flow problem. Imagine an estate owes IHT partly because a substantial pension has now been included in its value. The personal representatives may need to pay the tax before pension benefits have been distributed. Under