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Legal, pensions and money

Putting house in trust

(35 Posts)
Marydoll Sat 23-Feb-19 00:09:30

When we were updating our will the other day, we were advised to put our house in trust.
I'm unsure whether this is a sensible thing to do.
Does anyone have experience of this? Your comments would be appreciated.

notanan2 Sat 23-Feb-19 00:25:13

In what way? You'll need to provide more details about this trust (if youre comfortable sharing) in order to get any sort of useful answers/opinions.

jeanie99 Sun 24-Feb-19 20:25:42

I am assuming you were doing this via a solicitor.
Anything you are unsure about with regards to your estate going into a trust should be discussed at length with your solicitor. Ask questions you are paying for good advice.

Marydoll Sun 24-Feb-19 20:37:20

Just not sure if it's a good thing. After much discussion DH and I disagree about it.

oldgimmer1 Sun 24-Feb-19 21:23:44

Why do you want to do this?

Apparently it's very complicated.

Hope you've got a good solicitor!

Ngaio1 Sun 24-Feb-19 21:25:14

Depends on why? I am discussing whether to do this because my daughter has learning difficulties and could easily be conned out of it if there are no safeguards.

oldgimmer1 Sun 24-Feb-19 21:55:15

If it protects your daughter's interests, then a sensible thing surely? As long as it's done right, obvs.

What do you and your DH disagree on?

sodapop Sun 24-Feb-19 21:57:36

What about the Court of Protection if your daughter is a vulnerable adult.

Floradora9 Sun 24-Feb-19 22:19:39

If this to avoid paying for care home fees I think it will not work. We were almost persuaded to do so ( at a cost ) but when we looked into it it had flaws in the idea. DH also felt that if we needed care we should pay for it .

Marydoll Sun 24-Feb-19 22:21:47

? I haven't mentioned a daughter.

We have been advised by a solicitor when updating our will, that if one of us was resident in a nursing home and the other partner died before the partner in the care home, then all the assets would be taken by the local authority to pay for fees.
Putting our house in a trust would protect our children's inheritance.
I feel that there is something immoral about avoiding fees, but on the other hand, I don't want my children to lose their inheritance.
It all seems very complicated.

janeainsworth Sun 24-Feb-19 23:33:28

Did you consult a solicitor marydoll or just a will-writing service?
This article might give you some idea of how complicated this is.
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/money/ask-a-money-expert/can-put-home-trust-dodge-care-costs/amp/
The position may be different in Scotland too.
The questions I would ask of the person who has advised you, is ‘Can you guarantee that under no circumstances would the value of my home be used in any assessment of liability for care home fees?’
and ‘Would there be any capital gains tax liability for my children on my death because the house has been put into a trust?’
Find a solicitor who can advise you properly. If these trusts were a good idea, everyone would be doing it.

Marydoll Sun 24-Feb-19 23:50:06

That's what I thought! Thanks for the link, janeainsworth

Anja Mon 25-Feb-19 07:26:54

It’s a minefield isn’t it?

I would love to pass on our house to our children but why should the state pay for my care fees (should I need them) when I have the means to pay myself via my house?

Jane10 Mon 25-Feb-19 07:29:10

It is immoral to try to prevent paying for care home fees. If you don't pay them who does? Us other people will have to via our rates and taxes!

Marydoll Mon 25-Feb-19 07:33:28

My thoughts exactly! Why is this still legal?

DH has now agreed, we will not be doing it, but I just wanted others' thoughts on the subject.
Thanks for your comments.

Cherrytree59 Mon 25-Feb-19 08:06:52

What about looking into Tenants in Common
This is what we have done on our Solicitors advice.

littleflo Mon 25-Feb-19 09:24:32

We were advised the same. The idea being that you each own half the house and when you die your half goes to the person of your choosing. The proviso is that it cannot be sold while the surviving spouse is alive. It protects the inheritance if one partner should remarry after the partners death. It does of course mean that it cannot be used for nursing home fees. In this case it is important to override that in the Will or ensure that the right is waved if you need it for fees.

We have done this as I trust my children absolutely, but not any future spouse of DH.

Urmstongran Mon 25-Feb-19 10:18:44

The whole concept of funding care home provision needs a radical rethink by parliament.

oldgimmer1 Mon 25-Feb-19 10:54:03

Apologies @marydoll - I was looking at the wrong post! D'oh.

If it's to avoid care home fees then that's a different matter.

Cabbie21 Mon 25-Feb-19 13:31:53

Nothing wrong with ensuring your spouse can stay in the property if one of you goes into care, but I think that is already legislated for, likewise if a vulnerable dependent or career is still living there.
A Will can’t legislate for what happens before you die, though. We own our property as tenants in common.

JenniferEccles Wed 27-Feb-19 16:45:11

In my opinion there is nothing whatsoever immoral in wanting to protect our assets for our children, savings and property which we have worked hard for our entire lives.

What is immoral though is the fact that you can have two elderly people next to each other in a care home where one has to use their hard earned savings to pay for the care, and the other one who has squandered their money all their life, sponging off the State, yet gets the same level of care.

mumofmadboys Wed 27-Feb-19 18:15:13

Life is not fair.

Witzend Thu 28-Feb-19 13:22:51

One thing people often don't seem to think of, when seeking to keep assets 'safe' from care home costs, is that if and when the need comes, it will usually be an awful lot quicker and easier to arrange if the person can be self funded, rather than having to rely on the tender mercies of social services. Who will typically want the person to stay at home even past the point where it's safe or desirable for them to do so, because they are under a lot of pressure to keep costs down.

Nannarose Thu 28-Feb-19 13:36:57

Age Concern do have good advice, and so do major charities such as Mencap and others.

I understand that for most people, putting a house into trust can be complicated, expensive,and usually unnecessary.

I think in less common circumstances then you need to consult a specialist (STEP) solicitor.
Putting a house into trust for a vulnerable family member may seem sensible, but can have unforeseen complications, and needs careful thought.
I think it may be worthwhile if a house is regarded as an asset for the use of family members, instead of an individual's home.

Lovetopaint037 Tue 28-May-19 10:07:19

We looked into it and didn’t fancy it at all. Primarily you are giving your home away out of your control. Also, remember that if one spouse does not use his tax allowance of £350,000 then it passes to the remaining spouse. That gives your children £700.000 before tax.
Of course you protect your home from care home fees but you need to weigh everything up.