Trust buying a house - what would your DH do?

[chicaguapa]

My dad is coming into a great deal of money and will be putting a big chunk of it into individual Trusts for me and my siblings. He would like some of the money to be used to buy a house, but for it to be bought and owned by the Trust, ie in single names.

I can see why he is doing it this way as Dsis and Dbro are in quite unstable marriages and he wants to keep the houses secure in case they split up. However he has stated that he knows DH and I are solid, but feels he needs to treat us the same.

DH is fairly unhappy with this as he says he would like to co-own the house his family is living in. It's not a financial thing, but a matter of pride and a sense of feeling beholden to my dad.

WWYD? Or rather your DH?

I think it is only fair that you and your siblings are seen to be treated the same by your Dad and hopefully DH will appreciate that even if it does rankle a bit.

Having said that, hopefully your Dad is seeking professional legal advice in setting up the trusts as he will likely also need to take in to account any potential inheritance tax situation.

I can see why your DH would be worried.

I could be wrong but my reading of the information leading up to my own marriage leads me to think that any 'marital home' lived in by a married couple is considered to be owned 50/50 no matter whose name is or is not on the deeds if it came to a break up so i think your dad is probably doing the wrong thing in all the cases.

Also, what would happen if you died? presumably the house would go to your DH? Or would 'the trust' try to take it from him? That would be deeply unfair.

I personally would not allow myself to be in your DH's proposed position here (ie. no rights over my own home).

for e.g here: www.divorcemyths.co.uk/Marital-home/Myth-34.aspx

This is an extremely complex issue and not simply a matter of writing a legal document with the family solicitor.

Your Dad must go and see a [[http://www.step.org/ Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) lawyer.

The implications are significant where there is a large amount of money involved and where several generations may be affected. He must also completley rewrite his Will.

I can guarantee your Dad will not have consided or know about the entire legal and tax situation an dimplications of this. For example, it is far far better from a tax point of view to give money like this to grandchildren in trust and not their parents.

Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) lawyer.

Great thanks. I'm also sure he won't really understand the situation and have told DH that it may all change when my dad sees a solicitor to put it all in motion anyway. So to cross that bridge when it comes to it.

I hope it goes well and gets sorted for all of you.

I was in a similar situation. My dad bought a house for me and my DH which made him feel uncomfortable as he wanted to be 50/50 on our family home so I kept the house and rented it out while me and DH bought our own place.

That way we all had what we wanted.

sounds like your dad is a wise man. again i'm not sure if his legal situation would hold up.

it might be better if he co-owned a house with you if you bought it - that way your dh and you can pay your share of any mortgage and your dh's pride would be intact!

Are there any grand children yet?