Looking for information regarding inheritance and taxes

My husand and I are fine tuning our wills and need some advice on UK inheritance law, particularly with respect to spouse inheritance exemption and how UK estate law relates to trusts set up in the US.

We'd like to find an accountancy and/or law firm to ask a pretty straightforward query (not to include will writing as we're covered there). Much appreciate any feedback from the group.

I’m afraid I can’t help but am interested in the responses.

I assume you own property as joint tenants, if so there is an automatic right of survivorship, (just like tenants by the entirety in some U.S. States). There is no IHT for the surviving spouse, until their demise. The is the residential nil rate band that allows for a further £175,000 if the main home goes to a close family member. Altogether, there is a £1M allowance, providing your Will's are correctly written.
HMRC have complex reporting on foreign trusts. Unless you're talking very large amounts, I'd stay well clear. Even HMRC state that foreign trusts are a complex area!

We don't own any property. All our assets are in stocks, bonds and IRAs with a financial advisor in the US. We know there are no taxes imposed on inheritance that goes to the living spouse but need to know what happens upon the death of the surviving spouse (with regard to children and beneficiaries).

If anyone has a resource here in the the UK (lawyer or accountant) who can answer that question, we're prepared to pay for a consultation.

We don't own any property. All our assets are in stocks, bonds and IRAs with a financial advisor in the US. We know there are no taxes imposed on inheritance that goes to the living spouse but need to know what happens upon the death of the surviving spouse (with regard to children and beneficiaries).

If anyone has a resource here in the the UK (lawyer or accountant) who can answer that question, we're prepared to pay for a consultation.

We don’t have any trusts set up but we do have substantial assets in the form of stocks and shares in a US brokerage. What is important I believe is to have the beneficiaries set up with those accounts. In our case it is our children only and we expect that the executor of our estate should be able to supply copies of the death certificate of the last spouse for the funds to be distributed to the beneficiaries. I’m hoping that it helps in our case that our 2 children already have accounts with the same brokerage as that is where they hold their IRAs. (They are also dual citizens who now live in the UK).

In 2024 my wife had the good idea to cash out her Roth IRA (tax free in both countries) and purchase 2 by-to-let houses here in England to further diversify our assets in terms of type of asset and currency.