Trustee to a estate ( £1 million ) what kind of investment other than property?

[CosySlipperSox]

I am a trustee for my gran's estate. We have to decide what to do with her assets (mostly property), to generate an income during my mums lifetime, as mum gets the interest. We Grandchildren will inherit after my mums death.

After inheritance tax, there will be about £1 million.

Dh and I own some property and as a family we've owned a fair bit of property that has been developed, sold on or rented.

But...I am the least business minded person in my family, but have a lot of responsibility with this. Obviously I'm aware that there are financial advisors out there, but what kinds of things might people investment in, other than property? Not sure exact terms of the trust yet, but I'm starting to ponder this.

Advice appreciated!

I might be completely wrong here but if your mum would just give you the money if she had control couldn't she have done a deed of variation to the will (think that is what it is called) and done so? I am no expert on this only know my uncle did this so money left to him went straight to his children. Might be too late now anyway.

Bilberry OP's mum hasn't inherited the estate - only the interest from it so it isn't hers to giveaway.

Investments - unless the trust instrument restricts the type of investments you can make, the Trustee Act 2000 allows you to invest in pretty much anything. You need to invest in the best interests of the beneficiaries, and as a PP said, those interests do conflict to a degree (if you were investing in your DM's interests, you'd invest for income, if for the residual beneficiaries, you'd invest for growth). I think that the classic test is still the "prudent man of business", so you shouldn't be investing the lot in anything too off-piste, but there's no reason why you can't invest the lot in property if you don't need liquidity in the investment portfolio.

In terms of whether you want to preserve the trust, if all the beneficiaries are adults, of sound mind, and in agreement, you should be able to dissolve the trust and just distribute the assets, or vary the will by deed of variation; if your DM would want to distribute the assets amongst you all, that might be easier. It's a pain in the butt being a trustee.