Family Probate Trust

[CrowsInMyGarden]

I'm married and me & husband own house worth £500,000. We wanted to make a will but when the solicitor came to see us to set this up we ended up going for a Family Probate Trust - appointing 3 of our kids as Trustees and all 4 of them as beneficiaries (one lives outside the UK so it wasn't advised that he be a Trustee). I'm panicking a bit - plan to call the solicitors on Monday to ask some questions - but wondering if this means that husband & I would have to ask our children/Trustees if we can sell our house if/when we want to and if there are any other downsides to this. Does anyone know of any reason this wouldn't be a good idea?

If it has been set up properly, you can sell your house as and when you choose. You will not need anyone's permission to do so.

Family trusts - the shark-infested waters where the gullible are fleeced by the unscrupulous - well that’s my view.

I'm not a lawyer (unlike prh47..) but if the main asset is "only" £500,000 then I'm not sure that it's really worth the effort.

And if your children are old enough to be trustees then I'd guess you are somewhere around retirement age yourselves?

I think you need to look at your main motivation for going this route and examine that for pitfalls.

These links are quite interesting as they highlight where some of the intended objectives may fail:
https://www.friendandgrant.co.uk/blog/what-is-a-trust-the-pros-and-cons-of-setting-up-a-trust/
https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/family-and-care/long-term-care/setting-up-a-trust

Is the trust to avoid inheritance tax? Because you need at least £1million before IHT kicks in (2x £325k nil band rate, plus 2x£175k residence nil band rate).

Ask the solicitor about:
Gift with reservation of benefit
Deprivation of assets
Registration of trusts
Taxation of trust assets
Problems for executors
Cost of ongoing professional advice

Can you articulate why you want or need this trust? And why it meets your priorities, what the disadvantages are and why you think despite those it is worth doing?

Because if you can't, you haven't (yet) received good advice.

Why on earth would you do something so daft with such a small estate?

I bet you were told some cock and bull story about ‘protecting’ your house by the Will company.

You will have £1million IHT allowance ( as it stands) when the last of you dies.
Presumably you have any Life insurance written in trust ( which is free to do)
so it falls outside your estate.

Putting any assets in trust means you don’t legally own them please only do this if you have sort qualified legal advice there are so many cowboy firms passing themselves off as legal advisors who are not qualified trusts are a very specialised area. I’m guessing some will writer visited you at your home and pushed a trust this is often so they can charge and fleece you for large costs and they don’t explain what can go wrong with these.