Placing your house in a trust - Wills

[user1475317873]

I was looking at wills and have been advised hat it would be a good idea to put the house in a trust.

Can anybody give me the advantages or disadvanatages of doing so?

My only assets are the house I own with my husband, a bit of money in the bank and pesion. I don't have a will yet.

I think it's a bad idea - very difficult to get it out once it's in - all sorts of things might happen. The first death will be IHT-fee in any case - the time to think about it is once you or your spouse has passed away. So unless you have loads of kids by different partners and the point of the trust is to ensure they don't get written out of a will, save yourself the advisory fees....

When I was doing a bit of research into care home fees I discovered that putting a house in trust isn't always a 'get out' so if the reasons are partly around that I'd look into it really carefully, even solicitors have cocked their advice up. Have a look on Alzheimer's society message boards (I think that's where I got my info)

Who has advised you and what is the objective? Hard to comment without knowing a bit more about the circumstances.

Thank you.

The advice came because I said I would like to leave part of the house to the children. DH has two adult children from a previous relationship. The person that adviced me said the house does not form part of the estate as is jointly owned with my husband so it is automaticallly pass to him or me if something happen to any of us.

It is really not very straight forward and all a bit confusing. The person suggested to get some legal advice.

If you change the ownership of your house from Joint Tenants to Tenants-in-Common that will mean that you each have an individual share of the house. Your share can be left to whoever you choose. There are advantages and drawbacks with both methods of ownership.... it depends on your priorities as to which would be more suitable for your own needs. For example, are you more focused on inheritance/estate planning matters or on providing maximum resources for you/DH in later life (such as to pay for care needs if they arise).

Trusts can be useful in the right circumstances, or they can be a headache if you get them wrong. Talk to a legal or financial professional who is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP).

Sounds like they're talking about a will trust where your share of the house goes into a trust for the benefit of your child, but where your OH retains the right to live in it whilst he is alive. That's pretty standard will planning advice. May be something else they're talking about though?