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.

I am very surprised that someone entered the uk illegally and got deported now has a British passport

OP, your mother can make a will which says that she leaves the house to you but gives him a life interest until he dies, remarries, or cohabits with someone, meaning he can live there until any of those things happen. At which point it will be yours. He does not need to be named as a trustee.

"Can" doesn't mean its a good idea. Who's responsibility is it to maintain it? What does the OP do if the bloke lets the house get dirty, doesn't take proper care of it and the garden and so on? what should the OP do if he moves in a cohabitor? From what the OP says, he doesn't sound like a reasonable law abiding bloke

You just draft the trust so that the life tenant has those obligations and if he breaches the terms of the trust the trustees are.able to kick him out. A solicitor will do this.when drafting the Will. It's a standard clause.

I know someone who was in your position, both parties came to an agreement to sell the house and a smaller place was bought. The agreement for the partner to live in the property was transferred to the new property and the one who inherited the house was able to take the money that was left when the new property was bought. Don't know if that might help you

I know but it doesn't sound like he is the kind of person who abides by the rules and evicting a person for any reason is not a fast easy or cheap process, plus the cost of repairing/sorting and so on any damage or dilapidations. The Op is already wary of her mother's husband and strongly believes/knows from experience that her mother hasn't told her the whole truth and maybe none of the truth. From personal experience, believe me, the law is the easy bit!

Well if he's going to kick up about being evicted he will do that with or without a Will trust. The reason one is a good idea is that the lady needs to make reasonable provision for him as they are married (what is reasonable will depend on the facts) and a life interest trust means that inheritance is protected for her children ultimately.

Top tip...don't marry someone unless you know what legal rights marriage gives you!

yeah, that ship has sailed.....

That was aimed at anyone on this thread thinking about marriage.

A proper solicitor will be able to advise, and conditions to husband being allowed to live there would of course be specified, including who is responsible for maintaining the house. It is better to spell everything out in a will than to die without one in which case the house would automatically go to the husband, and then it would belong to him, which is not what OP’s DM wishes.

If this were simply a question of law, it would be a much easier problem. I did advise the OP to take proper legal advice for herself if she can afford it. I know from personal experience that even properly and carefully written wills cannot completely protect against unreasonable people and dealing with them is both stressful and expensive. The Op is already dubious about her mother's husband and also knows that her mother has a longstanding habit of twisting and concealing the facts to suit herself. Personally, while I did advise the OP to take her own legal advice, I don't see why she should pay for it, additionally while legal advice would be useful, the solicitor won't be able to take the character of the op's mother and her husband into consideration, they can only advise on what the law says, which is also why I advised her to tread very carefully and to have a firm conversation with her mother about refusing to be an executor.....

i understand that you’re saying that because the husband is a wrong’un he will try to disregard the law. However, he wouldn’t be the owner of the house so he wouldn’t be able to sell it and keep the money. What is the alternative that OP’s mother could do, if the life interest route is a bad idea? Given that OP’s DM wants her husband to be able to live in the house before it passes to her daughter? Is there a better solution that you know of?

A solicitor can draft a will that will protect her ultimate beneficiaries as far as possible within the current law. There's not much else you can do. Ideally you want to try and.avoid a challenge by the husband under the Inheritance (Family and Dependants) Act 1975 and given that he is a spouse he will be considered of utmost importance by.a court over and above adult children when it comes to provision under a will. A challenge will hold up the distribution of the estate for a long time and he is likely to win if the lady leaves him nothing.

Yes he may.be a pain. But that's why using a trust gives some element of control over him and protects the children' inheritance. Unfortunately you can't have your cake and eat it. Chose an easy life and just leave the husband the house outright. (And face a challenge by the children who potentially get diainherited) or put it in trust and hopefully avoid a challenge by him but have the task of ensuring he complies with the trust obligations. Number 2 would be my choice.

This is good advice.

or choice 3 talk firmly to mother, get the honest truth and then decide what to do. The OP has no sibs and I don't think that granchildren can contest without good reason? I am totally not arguing with what can legally be done and not done but I do think the OP needs to think very seriously about how much stress she wants to endure and how far she can financially go to deal with any problems that might arise from the house and any challenge to the will. I guess what i am suggesting is doing a risk assessment before committing.

I don’t know if this has been brought up elsewhere on the thread but in Scotland the spouse has the right to the matrimonial home if ordinarily resident up to I think £473K plus furnishings plus £50k you can’t just disinherit him by leaving house to your kids even with a right for him to remain.

Honestly if it can’t go in a trust I’d say the only way is equity release mortgage and the money is shunted towards your girls now. Also your Muum could redirect her life insurance to go to family, the house can be sold to pay off mortgages etc.

You may have screwed up here big time! As you still live in the home, unless you’ve been paying market rent for the length of time you’ve lived there after gifting it to them, when you die your DD may very well have to pay IHT as it will be considered to be a Gift with Reservation of Benefits.
Regarding the part about her dying before you and it not being sold, as the house no longer belongs to you that part of the Will could very easily be challenged by any children she has at the time.
Who wrote your Will - it doesn’t sound like they knew wheat they were doing.

You are assuming my house was/is worth over £350k, when IHT kicks in. It wasnt, it isnt.

My foot remains unshot, if that is a thing. But thanks for your concern.

What are you suggesting? Presumably the mother will have considered her daughter. I thought we were talking about what to put in a Will? You can't unfortunately be wishy-washy in law really particularly when it comes to inheritance. Can you perhaps clarify what you mean?

I suppose the mother could be intestate. Is that what you are suggesting? Depending on the estate that could mean the whole lot goes to the husband. Or are you suggesting the daughter just choses not to inherit? That was choice 1 in my original scenario.

Sorry, I didn't reply to the second part of your post about my child. My child has no children, at 55 years of age, I don't expect they ever will. Maybe, perhaps, but not probable. I'm happy to take the risk. But thanks for your concern.

I quite like the idea of equity release. Although as she won't then be able to use a life interest trust, the house presumably would have to go outright to the husband if she dies first, less the amount of the ER. (depending on other assets) to avoid a challenge.

have you read the entire thread? I have made clear that I am not in law and would not suggest what should go in the will or how to manage it.
The OP has said

1. She does not like or trust her mother's husband
2. her mother has a history of twisting the facts and not telling her everything
3. Her mother has a history of what might be described as less than sensible decision making

Now while, of course this does affect the OP, normally there is a limit to how much it can affect her. BUT if she enters into her mothers plans to make her will by agreeing to become a trustee and/or executor, the potential for being affected increases massively. As I have said, my advice would be to make sure that she is crystal clear about what she is getting into. That her mother has told her all the truth omitting nothing, and that she understands the potential risks and problems and is happy that she would be able to deal with them and understands how. Once the OP understands this, she will be in a better place to talk to her mother about the nuts and bolts of the will.

Right. Dont worry..I didn't think you were "in law" of course. But that doesn't change the legal options available to her mother who is the one actually making the will. The daughter can disclaim of course. A solicitor will usually of course discuss all this with a client and be able to give specific advice and provide options. I appreciated however how passionate you are about it and it's useful to hear your perspective as someone for whom it went wrong. But of course the best advice for the mother is to consult a professional and for the daughter not to overinvolve herself. Let's leave it there

I am totally in agreement. If this was a run of the mill mum and child thing I'd agree....its just that the Mother seems to have form for not telling the entire story to her daughter.

If you see a solicitor you could make a condition of living there is that he keeps the house in good repair.
My Aunt had to do this as she lived in her husband’s home after his death. Her husband did not have children but wanted the money to go to a charity.