Readers’ forum: Pension bequest

My client is married and in his late 70s with a currently satisfactory income level from non-pension sources. He also has a pension fund in a self-invested personal pension (SIPP) currently valued at some £1.6m. It is likely that neither he nor his wife who is the same age will need to draw on this fund during their lifetimes. Needless to say it has gone past the lifetime allowance stage and the appropriate tax has been paid so we assume that now and for the foreseeable future it floats free so to speak. Our client’s latest proposal is to try to leave a fund on the death of the survivor of himself and his wife to his currently infant grandchildren. The aim is to use their personal allowances to release income from the fund at a low rate of tax to help with education expenses and so...