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Trust fund advice needed

9 replies

DoingTheBestICan · 09/04/2011 08:03

TRying to be a bit vague here in case anyone i know reads this,
Briefly, mil died last yr & fil & herself had wrote their will about 6 yrs ago when only 1 gc was born,they have since had 2 more.
DH had to sign a form to act as guarantor (i think thats the term) anyway fil has asked dh to sign something so that fil can change the old will & re-write a new one.
After discussions between them all & sil he agreed to sign & basically all the money that mil wanted to leave dh will now not be given to him.
FIL assured dh before he signed that the money would be put in trust for our ds & sils 2 dc,now he wants to put a lot of money into 1 pot in trust for them & any future gc.
DH is not happy about this at all as fil knows we have got no chance of ever having anymore dc & he can see that our ds' share of the trust fund being eroded.
There is a lot more back story to this that massively favours sil but i cannot go into that on here but believe me this is not sour grapes on our part.
I know fil can now do exactly what he wants as it is his money but what i would like to know is, can anyone tell me anything about trust funds & how they work?
Thanks.

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DoingTheBestICan · 09/04/2011 08:11

executor not guarantor,sorry got early sat morning brain.

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StiffyByng · 10/04/2011 00:01

DTBIC My husband and I are currently in a very complex dispute involving a trust fund, and received some helpful advice on here at the outset. But the most helpful thing I can say it that you should talk to a trust law specialist. The issues involved are complicated and it's unlikely anyone will be able to give you specific enough advice on the internet, great as the lawyers that post on here are.

One thing that will be very important though is who the trustees of the trust will be. They will control the distribution of the money. It is extremely difficult to remove trustees and your DH should try to ensure that it will be people he is confident in. As our case proves, appointment of bad trustees is a disaster. Decent trustees on the other hand can rescue a bad situation.

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Collaborate · 10/04/2011 00:04

If he's signed a deed if variation then he's stuffed and you'd have to ask shy the hell did he do it.
I think you really need to see a solicitor so you can tell them the full story and get proper advice:

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DoingTheBestICan · 10/04/2011 07:35

Thanks,originally fil said he was going to put x amount in a trust fund for each of the gc & now he is saying he wants it all in 1 pot for all of them to be shared out for any future gc sil will have also.

He has basically gone back on everything he assured dh & thats why dh agreed to sign the deed of variation.

Fil hasnt mentioned who the trustees will be but i imagine he will have sil & dh if he can.

I think we need to go & see a solicitor, & fil told us dh had to sign it as mil had monies in her name that fil couldnt get hold of unless dh signed over all control to him & now it looks like dh will not be getting any of his heritance his mum wnated to leave him.

I bloody knew this would happen.

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Collaborate · 10/04/2011 10:52

The deed of variation will have specified what the new trust was to be. I assume it created the old trust set up by mum's will. As it took away from the entitlement of minors it will have to have been approved by the court. Mumblechum should know more.

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DoingTheBestICan · 10/04/2011 16:16

I dont think there was a trust set up in mil's old will,her will said X amount of cash to her children & her share of her home to be shared equally between them also.

It is fil who wants to set up a trust for gc & future gc & not give the share of the house to them,we dont know exactly what he wants to do as he changes his mind constantly.

He tells us one thing then the next time we see him he has changed it again to favour sil more & more.

Basically none of mil's wishes are being met.

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prh47bridge · 10/04/2011 17:00

If the deed of variation has been approved FIL can't keep making random changes to it. The variation appears, on the information you've posted, to affect the rights of children which means it needs to be approved by the courts. Until that has happened nothing is final.

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Collaborate · 10/04/2011 17:13

If DH was the original beneficiary he can agree to the deed of variation. The deed must say what the new set up is. I don't understand what the problem is. The initial point says it's FIL's money now, which suggests DH varied the will to say that FIL was to be the beneficiary. If that's the case, he can now do what he wants with it.

If that's not the case, can you please specify what the deed of variation said the distribution of the estate should now be?

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DoingTheBestICan · 10/04/2011 19:15

Collaborate you are right,dh signed the deed to sign over everything in fil's name,dh was to recieve x amount of money & the rest to be fil's.

Before dh agreed to sign to assured him he would be setting up a trust fund in each of the gcs names & if sil was to have anymore children then she would have to see them right from her own inheritance now however fil has changed his mind & has told dh he will be setting up 1 trust fund in their names to be shared between the gc now & any future gcs.

basically fil has shafted dh out of his mums inheritance on a false promise & i now realise there is nothing we can do about it.

Thanks for you advice & help.