In the past I have only had situations where there is one settlor and one trust.

I have been trying to find some guidance on the situation where there is more than one settlor, say husband and wife.

If assets are jointly settled into a single trust are there two IHT Nil rate band exemptions available.

An associate says there have to be separate trusts for husband and wife so that each gift to each trust qualifies for IHT Nil rate band utilisation.

If a single trust with two settlors (say husband and wife) there is only one IHT Nil rate band even though there are two settlors and the asset being transferred to the trust may be a jointly own asset, such as say a commercial or rental property.

None of the examples I have found talk about situations where there is more than one settlor to a single trust.

Is my associate right?

... i.e. must there be a trust for husband and a separate trust for wife and each transfers there half to their own trust to ensure that both IHT nil rate bands are available for the transfer(s) by them.

In the case of a jointly owned property I guess this also means making sure the he property is held "tenants in common" and not "jointly owned" to facilitate gifts in this way?

Obviously assuming no previous chargeable transfers in the last 7 years.

Any pointers or useful comments on this would be helpful.

Taz