DF leaving assets in trust to my children

[Inbedat930]

My DF is nearing end of life. His will leaves everything (house, savings, etc) to my young children, in trust until they’re 21. This is what he (and my late DM) wants.

Can anyone explain how leaving in trust works please? I have a copy of his will and there are no details of the trust or how it works.

Specifically, I’m wondering about his house. It’s currently rented out to pay towards his care home fees. We have a management company, but I deal with all their questions re the (numerous) issues and repairs needed. Will we have to keep renting it once DF passes away?

Thanks for any insights.

I asked a solicitor a general question about trusts and she said that she needed more details about the type of trust and how it was set up before she could comment.

If it's not in the wil I would just clarify if you can that it's actually been done and is not just an idea. Not that it matters if he hasn't, but my mum used to say she'd done a few things that she hadn't.

Thank you for replying. The leaving everything in trust is definitely stated in the will (I’ve seen it). But that’s all it says and there’s no other paperwork connected with it. I have all his papers at my house since he moved into a care home. He has cognitive decline and wouldn’t be able to remember or provide any insights even if I asked. DM who was on the ball with such things passed away suddenly and unexpectedly.
I guess I just wait and see and seek legal advice when the time comes. I just wanted to know whether we’re stuck with renting the house out (which isn’t an ideal rental property) and all that entails until my kids are 21.

I think it's possible you might be able to end the trust if you then pay inheritance tax on it. But that still might be a better option than 10+ years of managing the house. I would go and pay for a chat with a wills and trusts solicitor.

Did he use a solicitor to make the will or did he copy something from somewhere else? I’d expect there to be more detail about the trust in the will (not a solicitor but did update my own will last year).

No details of the trust? Who is the executor? It’s not enough to say you are leaving things in a trust. Had he created a trust?

I'm not an expert but I would hope that if the trust doesn't specifically mention the house, it could be sold and the money put into the trust instead ?

What prompted the decision to rent it out rather than sell it when he went into care ? Wsas it that no-one has POA to be able to sell it ?

I meant to add - are you sure it's not just standard will terminology ? I think it's normal to say that the executors will hold an estate 'in trust' in order to settle all debts and pay the beneficiaries. Certainly both the ones I've been executor for have had that wording.

A will can also create a 'Immediate Post Death Interest' trust, but this is usually when a property is left to children but the surviving spouse is given a lifetime right to live there.

A trust has trustees who can make decisions to benefit/support the trust’s beneficiaries, particularly if they are minors. So the trustees could sell the house and put the money into a fund or bond if that was deemed in the best interests of the beneficiaries. If the house remains rented then the trust would fund the expenses of that, so ‘you’ wouldn’t necessarily need to continue to manage the property, you’d just pay more out of the rent for a proper property manager.

But I agree, you need to get legal advice.