Pensions and life insurance

[WhoseMoneyAnyway]

Taking out the above.

I am a single parent. If the worst where to happen to me before my DD turns 18 I’d like her to have the money. But obviously it would be in trust.

Can I choose who it goes to trust to? I’d choose an aunt or uncle to look after it and if they do can my Ex-Husband access the money at all? My ExH cannot get hold of the money, there would be none left by the time my DD needed/wanted it.

Can I set criteria for it’s release in small amounts? Say DD has a big school trip she wants to go on, or needs an operation not offered on the NHS (because who knows what the future holds)?

Do I have to leave the whole amount to my DD? Or could I leave say a portion to my DNs?

Thank you for any advice given

As you are talking about life insurance and pensions, they will almost certainly fall outside your will. The trustees of the schemes will decide what happens to the money. You can complete an expression of wish form for each of them which sets out who you want the money to go to and in what proportions. The trustees will normally follow your wishes, but they are not bound by them. They can ignore your wishes if they think something else is more appropriate. For example, if you took out a life insurance policy when you were married, you may have completed an expression of wish form saying you wanted the money to go to your husband. As you are now divorced, the trustees would almost certainly ignore that and arrange for the money to go to your daughter instead.

@prh47bridge thank you I trust the people I want the money to go to to keep it for my DD.