Mother wants to put her house in a trust. Advice?

[fishtank12345]

Hello

My mum does not want her husband to be able to sell her house as she wants my kids to have it ( im an only child) so she wants to make a trust will and name me as trustee but her husband will need to live there until death if she goes 1st ( she is older than him )

I do not like this man. He has has only ever financially abused my mother and currently has a lot of debt in his name.

This is not his home land she worries he will sell up and go back home with all the money and he doesn't deserve to be able to take it all and run.

Advice welcome ? Also if we are trustees then does he need to be as well? As I imagine that just would be crap too.

It depends on the wording of the trust. Normally, life interest trusts are worded so that he could, if he wanted to leave the country, sell the house but the proceeds (assuming it is solely owned by your mother) would go to your children. He would not be able to sell the house and take the money for himself.

It depends how the trust is worded, but normally he would be financially responsible for it.

It is also worth saying that this is a fairly normal arrangement where someone wants their spouse to be able to continue living in the house but guarantee that their children (or, in this case, grandchildren) will ultimately inherit.

Legal advice needed really.

The real danger is if he divorced her as he may be awarded a chunk of the house especially id he is debt do has no assets on his side. Sometimes property owned before the marriage is protected but not if both parties needs can't be met.

Secondly. A trust can lead to a number of issues. It could be seen as an attempt to avoid inheritance tax or as a deprivation of assets in the case of her going into a care home. This would be the case if she is still benefiting from the house e.g. living in it rent free. She can't 'give' the house away and still benefit from it.

If the marriage is short then possibly the best idea would be to devorce as the court would aim to for both to leave the marriage as they entered it with no sharing of assets.

If she wants to allow the h to live in the property after death then it doesn't need to be a lifetime interest. You can do it for a period of time e.g. a year it five. This gives the man time to grieve and prepare before having to leave the house.

If he's younger then that can be very problematic as mentioned above. You may end up spending your own money maintaining a house you can't live in, maybe for decades!! It the house is in your name you also lose any first time buyer benefits you are doubly screwed.

Tbh the best option by the sounds of it is to devorce. Deal with any potential fall out now and get this leech away from her.

A lifetime interest trust does not provide any mechanism to avoid inheritance tax and therefore cannot be seen as such. As it only kicks in after death, it cannot be seen as deprivation of assets if OP's mother goes into a care home.

If the will is drafted in the normal way, OP will not have to spend her own money maintaining the house. That will be the responsibility of her mother's husband.

Putting the house into a lifetime trust does not put it in OP's name or the name of her children, so no-one will lose any first-time buyer benefits.

This is why people should seek proper legal advice rather than relying on internet randoms who may not know what they are talking about.

I am not a lawyer but I am pretty certain I own the house as a Solicitor put it in my name with the Land Registry but my Mums Partner can remain there until he dies or chooses to move.
I don't think a Trust was mentioned

My Mums Partner does not pay rent but IS responsible for all upkeep

"I don't think a Trust was mentioned"

If there is no trust and you are the owner of the house then you can kick your mum's partner out anytime that you want.

The only way that you wouldn't be able to do that is if there was a trust.

Thanks everyone. Mum is going to a lawyer for all the info tomorrow morning. Let's see how she gets on.

Can I point out that she is handing on her problems with her difficult husband from her to you? What will you do if he won't maintain the house? You try and make him leave because he has broken the agreement?

I’m not so sure you’re correct about the deprivation of assets issue;

https://www.scottbailey.co.uk/wills-probate/can-you-avoid-care-home-fees-with-a-lifetime-property-trust

The article is talking about a lifetime property trust. As it says, "This type of trust is established during your lifetime and should not be confused with a Life Interest Trust, which is created through your Will and takes effect upon your death."

A lifetime property trust can be deprivation of assets as that article explains. However, OP's mother is taking about a Life Interest Trust created through her will. That cannot be regarded as deprivation of assets. The house remains hers until she dies, so she is not depriving herself of any assets.

Go with her?

If you can this is really important. Even if you’re cognitively brilliant there’s going to be so much to process and little details to think about 2 heads are better than 1 especially when 1 is emotionally involved.

a friend had a similar issue where mum died, the will stated her partner could live in the property until death, but had to pay an insurance annually. He did not maintain the property, destroyed a lot of her personal things that the family wanted, refused to move out when he’d broken the terms, when he finally did leave, in the dead of night telling no one, he then sued them for a share of the inheritance as the will stated either stay in property, or get £x he effectively did both and stayed in the property for several years but the will wasn’t specific enough, the place was a complete shit tip, it took 4 massive skips before they could even start to see day light.

it does sound like divorce is what is really needed here but that’s going to be a big step for her.

She might be better off leaving him a sum of money from her estate (or a proration) to set up on his own and then you or the kids inherit the rest on her death. Then you aren’t left with the issues you are talking about as your responsibility. That’s what DH and I have have put in our wills, I have to buy his kids out within 3 years if I want to stay in the house and he’s left me a proportionate amount of his estate. I have my own money to make up the rest.

Thank you I will look into this.
Not sure if I could bring myself to turf an 85 year old man in poor health out of the house he has lived in for 20 years though, even if I really don't like him and he means I inherited 3 years ago and can't sell

Only if the house is put in trust while alive. If dove on death, via the will, it can only be put in trust if still held, so can still be sold to pay care home fees.

Agree with this. You really should put this to you mum, tell her you really don’t want the worry of dealing with him until he dies. Suggest you’d rather the house was sold on her death and him given some money to set up a home. However she must take advice and get proper legal papers drawn up.

Also why isn’t she just divorcing him? It sounds like he’s a horrible person.

No don't. You don't want any suggestion of undue influence or getting to involved in someone else's will that you may be a beneficiary of.

The reason I say that is that a spouse is looked at more favourably than a child in terms of provision under a Will.(particularly a grown child). So reasonable provision needs to be made for him. And if he contests the will the court will want to know who else was in the room with your mother when instructions were taken. You don't want any suggestion that you influenced your mother. Far better the solicitor writes a letter after the meeting that you can go through.

Nonsense

Totally reasonable for a family member to accompany her mother to a solicitor to discuss estate planning.

In fact it’s even recommended

So she still has a mortgage with a few years left and they said they cant put house in a trust because of that... bummer.

OK, I think there may be some crossed wires going on here.

The home is not placed in a trust now, it is placed in trust when she dies.

If whoever she went to was talking about placing the house in trust now then it sounds like they misunderstood what the situation was or they were looking to sell her a totally inappropriate product.

Did she speak to an actual solicitor or was it just a will writing firm?

You didn’t attend with her, and this is your mother telling you what the solicitor said?

OP do you live with your mother?

No we don't live with her.

Might you in the future?

Is this the sum total of what she was told?
what did they propose?
what are their qualifications…