Does a Trust requested in a Will have to be set up?

[HappyBeeing]

Our father passed away last year and his Will (which mirrors our mum's) requests a Family Trust be set up with his half of their house being transferred to it, along with his sole assets. It has a Life Interest for mum to live in the house and she, myself and my sister are beneficiaries. The will was set up with the Trust primarily to ensure my sister's husband could not claim in any way, but my sister has now been divorced for some time.
None of us wants the Trust to be set up now and would prefer the house etc pass direct to mum. I'd like to know if we have to set up the Trust and if not, how do we change things.
Mum wants us to visit the same solicitor who set up the original will etc and we'll do that, though I don't hugely trust that he'll really do the best thing for us based on past experience, hence my question to have a bit of knowledge in advance. Thanks

"It has a Life Interest for mum to live in the house and she, myself and my sister are beneficiaries. The will was set up with the Trust primarily to ensure my sister's husband could not claim in any way, but my sister has now been divorced for some time."

I'm not too sure that would have been the primary aim.

What you have said sounds rather confusing where you say that your mum is also a beneficiary (is she an executor?).

The usual reason for this sort of arrangement is that it avoids your father's share of the house from being taken to pay for care home fees if your mum ever goes into a care home later in life.
.

"None of us wants the Trust to be set up now and would prefer the house etc pass direct to mum. I'd like to know if we have to set up the Trust and if not, how do we change things."

It is a simple matter to change things but do be aware that if your mum does go in to care in later life (although, relatively few older people currently do) then it is likely that the whole value of the house will be taken up in care home fees (unless the house is worth multiple millions).

If you have been left anything in a will then you can do what is called a "Deed of Variation" within two years of the death. This passes anything that you were entitled to in the will to whoever you nominate and it is treated as though you never received it but it went directly to the person you nominate.

Just be aware though that if any of the beneficiaries are under the age of 18 then their share cannot be given away like this without a court order (even if their parents want to do it).

It's usually done to preserve the asset. Your mother would have a lifetime interest so can't be made to leave, so on a day to day basis, nothing changes for her. When your sister divorced, did she get a clean break financial settlement?

You don’t have to set up the trust so long as everyone agrees not to. My parents had wills from before they changed the IHT rules on main residence that were set up like this.

I’d suggest talking to a solicitor you trust about the implications. As ppl have said there are things like care fees that splitting the property ownership in this way might help avoid, but I’m not an expert.

Thanks for all your helpful replies.
@Another2Cats. The new will was created ten years ago because of my sister's situation, and the solicitor also pointed out the benefit of avoiding one half of the house and the money solely in Dad's name being used up by care fees (I'm not convinced about the benefit as unless she loses her marbles she will insist on 'care at home', but if a care home is needed her half of the house would be used up anyway and then the other half could be used up if a council allocated care home is not very good). Thanks for the Deed of Variation suggestion which I've now read about and will ask about that when we see the solicitor. The mirror wills state both mum and dad as beneficiaries and 'their issue or their remote issue' and although the grandchildren are now all over 18, again it's something to ask about.
@unsync . I think the divorce had a clean break as I don't recall there being any ongoing payments etc, but that's a good thing for us to check before seeing the solicitor.
@Daffidale Reducing IHT was another benefit mentioned by the solicitor but they had a combined £1m allowance under current rules and they are not even halfway to that. We will speak to the solicitor but it has been useful to get feedback on some points to consider and ask about.