Trust

Use a solicitor, not a will writer.

The most common trust is that under which any jointly owned property is held, for instance by a couple. Most joint owners of property don’t realise that they are in fact trustees.

The vast majority of trusts have nothing to do with avoiding IHT, Many are done to leave money to children and restrict their access to the money until they are of age.

Check out reasons for setting up a trust, it is not always about tax saving. My mother's will had the word 'trust' in it but it meant something else and not what I imagined a trust meant. Any reputable firm of solicitors will have staff specialising in family matters and would be best to advise.

My DB did this thinking he was making life easier for his family in the future unfortunately the lawyers he used went out of business and it caused a lot of problems for him to get the trust set aside. The police investigated this firm, but I don’t think anything came of it. DH and I just have our wills.

We had poor legal advice about a trust (from a solicitor) and subsequently discovered that it had never been set up properly. There can be good reasons for setting one up, that have nothing to do with IHT avoidance though. One of the challenges is thinking about who the trustees should be.

Thanks again, we will seek legal advice!

1sttimegran

Thank you for all the feed back, I have talked to a wills writer who advised/pushed a trust and a financial planner who almost said don’t bother! I will discuss with. Solicitor but can’t help thinking that there is a financial incentive for them to recommend a trust!!

Solicitors are bound by a code of conduct adminstered by the law society. Once set up, a trust does not require ongoing legal expenditure.

I think your reasons for doubting a solicitor's advice, are unjustified and as you have discovered, will writers will 'push' a trust and are far less qualifed and, as far as I know, there is no higher group that it is obligatory that they belong to who monitor their work andcan suspend them if they fail to meet the highest standards.

Do not throw the baby out with the bath water.

Do not take advice from a will writer (an unregulated and unqualified species I wouldn’t touch with a bargepole), nor a financial advisor. Speak to a qualified solicitor specialising in trusts, who will give you advice without financial bias. As has already been said, if your assets are such that you need to consider the possibility of a trust in order to reduce your IHT bill you can certainly afford to take proper advice. This is a complicated area of the law and with the wrong advice you could easily get into a dreadful mess. I cannot over-emphasise the importance of not consulting anyone but a qualified specialist solicitor.

Thank you for all the feed back, I have talked to a wills writer who advised/pushed a trust and a financial planner who almost said don’t bother! I will discuss with. Solicitor but can’t help thinking that there is a financial incentive for them to recommend a trust!!

The only people who can help you are solicitors, so go and talk to a solicitor. We no longer have a resident solicitor on GN.

If you have enough money to warrant putting it in a trust to avoid IHT, you'll almost certainly have enough money to pay for proper legal advice which is essential.

Just be sure they do what you want.
Listen to plenty of advice/views and read up.

Good luck.

Depends on the kind of Trust, they can be a legal minefield.

My children had trusts from one set of grandparents. They wete a terrible investment for them in the end but they appreciated the thought!

There are different kinds of trust. It is possible to use a trust to avoid inheritance tax but it’s a complicated area. You need the advice of a solicitor who specialises in trusts, who will take your particular circumstances into account.

You might want to consider this to go on the "legal" forum?