Can anyone come and chat to me about dissolving a trust to sell a property held in the trust?

[Abitcluelessaboutwills]

Hi my MIL passed away a few months ago and it was discovered after she died that she had put her home into trust (a will trust) following the death of my FIL nearly 20 years ago, naming my DH as co-trustee with her. We are hoping to move house to a bigger place within this area so the kids stay at the same school (got 2 DDs and a DS sharing a large room currently) and are planning to use DH's share towards part of the deposit. DH also has two brothers who were unaware of this trust being set up. MIL had a difficult relationship with all her DS's and looks like she hid this from them.

We had thought this move might happen this year but a quick google suggests it can take over a year to dissolve a trust. Does anyone have any experience of this?

Bumping

It is very complicated and requires, I believe, the formal consent of all the actual and potential beneficiaries. It all depends on the terms of the trust. I have wound-up small pension schemes and none has taken less than 5 years.

Sorry, should have added that small pension schemes are set up as trusts.

Hi @Abitcluelessaboutwills
Ask MNHQ to move this to the legal section. There are a couple of lawyers who hang out there who might be able to help.

It's the Trustees decision

Five years!? Yikes. Looks like we will need to invest in a sturdy sofa bed so DS can have our bedroom then....

If your DH is now the sole trustee and the only asset is the house, then in theory dissolving the trust should be straightforward and could be done very quickly. I'm not sure where a year (or five!) is coming from. But there are a few key caveats:

• you will need to read the trust deed or the will which created it to make sure you can
• I am assuming your H and his brothers all want to sell the house and there aren't going to be any disputes
• you will need to take legal advice on the dissolution but you should also take some tax advice from a professional to advise on any IHT and CGT implications for the trustees and the beneficiaries.

Get professional advice. They will need to see the Trust Deed and will have other questions. Don't try to do this yourself - it's very easy to miss something. Good luck

Thanks Lockheart that's a bit more reassuring! MIL passed away at the end of November and that's a solicitor only just been engaged this week. There's beena lot of faffing going on - DHs brothers were initially adamant that they wanted all the paperwork and legalities done themselves to avoid solicitor fees as solicitors are 'money grabbing' . DH was also named executor and he was getting stressed trying to fill out forms (he is severely dyslexic). Then when they found out about the trust they eventually backed down on this point. DH said he asked the solicitor how long the process would take and he said they never gave a clear answer.

Btw this is a three bed semi (albeit in an affluent area) not some fancy manor house. There won't be much to pay in IHT tbh, if anything.