Trusts... family law... what sort of professional do I need?

[HubrisPolice]

I'm disabled and expecting to lose my benefits (but not be well enough to work).

My family and an ex-partner are very, very kindly trying to put something together to look after me. But I just can't find anyone to advise how best to do this. Everyone is in their own self-interested silo.

The financial advisor tells me I should ask for a lump sum and invest in stocks and shares.

The mortgage advisor tells me I should buy not one but two BTLs, but he wouldn't actually lend the money as I have no income (no shit, Sherlock).

None of the solicitors will meet me without being paid £100+ for the first meeting and a higher rate thereafter.

However in very brief enquiries over the phone, trusts solicitors want to set up a trust.

And family law /divorce lawyer wants to treat innocent, generous ex-P like the enemy, plus doesn't know anything about the purpose or function of trusts.

Help!

The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) website lists members by local area. Some will be solicitors, but try to find one who is also an independent financial adviser. Sounds like you are thinking about protecting a lump sum to provide an income. There can be advantages to doing this via a disabled persons trust but there will be costs involved too inevitably.

Thanks.

No, I don't have a lump sum and am not expecting to inherit one.

It's going to come down to siblings and the ex trying to do something.
Could be them putting together a lump sum or supposedly committing to some sort of regular payments. Both methods have downsides.

But of course what you say applies to any lump sum, not just inherited. Sorry, not on the ball today.

I think you need to find out what they are prepared to commit to. If there are no lump sums in the offing a trust doesn't seem to be needed, as they cost to set up and run and aren't designed for this. There may be other unusual possibilities such as a deed of covenant which may give you certainty but relies on donors being prepared to commit to a legally enforceable agreement to pay regular sums out of taxed income.

Then you need to be prepared, possibly, to pay a professional for their advice and drafting.

However you may not need it if you are actually going to be funded through generous gifts which is what is sounds like.

It's a bit haphazard but that sounds like what you are being offered anyway - the chief way of getting some certainty is to be given a lump sum. Or a deed of covenant.

I agree a member of STEP sounds to to be the most appropriate professional to advise you.

It's completely haphazard and unreliable. While being incredibly generous and I'm very grateful.

There's been handwaving, but only one person has actually made a concrete offer, and the amount they can raise as lump sum will be, um, testing to survive on for decades.

Deed of covenant sounds promising - thank you, will investigate that. I'm good to pay a professional for set-up costs, if that actually gets me somewhere. I just can't waste money.

Jesus, I so don't want to do this at all.

Have you investigated your entitlement to all/any other benefits if you can't work? I'm just thinking that lump sums can be a problem if they will affect means testing (hence one advantage of being held in a trust instead).

Been through the disability benefits mill for years. It's hideous and I'm confident will get worse. Most parties planning more welfare cuts after the election, and it has to come from somewhere.

I don't have much of a life, and the neverending demands and rather awesome fuck-ups of benefits agencies can absorb pretty much all of it for months at time.

I also have no resilience - not mobile enough to get to a food bank if money dries up, etc.

You're right, the reason for looking at trusts is to see how that works with means-testing. Research so far suggests trust costs could cancel out more benign benefits like basic Council Tax benefit (benign as has simpler criteria and is less instantly catastrophic when they make mistakes).