off their debts? Say there is a situation in which someone is very likely to die at some point soon and knows it. Say they have a fair amount of assets and also a fair amount of debts (which do not have collateral attached to them). I know that if they die as is then their assets would be used to pay off their debts and what remains would go to their heirs. I'm wondering, could the person give away their assets to their heirs before death such that when the person dies, the lenders would end up getting almost nothing? That way I figure the heirs could get more while the lenders lose out. I'm wondering if this is possible or if there's something that would prevent one from being able to do this.

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The owner of these assets can do as they please with what they have; the problem is that the person would have to survive the date of gifting these asset by a full 7 years to avoid inheritance rules, if the main asset is the property they live in, gifting it away and still lives there you will pay inheritance tax on it, it is looked upon as receiving benefit in kind (has enjoyed the benefit of living there) if the person is widowed the rules now allow the remaining spouse the nil rate band of the forma spouse so the widowed persons allowance could be £625000

Unless you seek the advised of a professional Independent financial advisor you may land your self in all sorts of problems,
Most creditors will seek redress against the persons estate after they have gone and can even some time after the demise of that person and also the beneficiaries of that estate.

However if this person owes money to creditors and they have the asset to clear such a debt then it is only morally right to do so, after all they gained from the creditor at the time they borrowed, did they not!!