Trust fund and probate query

[Wreath21]

I've tried googling this and not got very far...
If a grandparent leaves money in trust to a grandchild, with the parent being the trustee, what happens when the parent dies? Does it have to be dealt with via the same process as getting probate?

It looks like you need probate so that you the executor can assign new trustee(s).
Perhaps more than one so this doesn't happen again?
Personally, i would get a solicitor who knows about involved.

Isn't there a point, though, where the beneficiary of the trust actually gets the money, if said beneficiary is an adult?

What are the terms of the trust?

Nothing can happen with the trust until you have probate as there are no trustees to deal with it, regardless of the age of the beneficiary.
Get probate and then deal with the trust.
How old is the beneficiary?

The beneficiary is over 50. Not sure of the terms of the trust but all concerned had believed for some years that the money would go to the beneficiary when the trustee died; the family were advised some years ago that the beneficiary could, in fact, access some of the money with the agreement of the trustee and this did take place but most of it is still in the trust. It's the sort of trust which consists of stocks and shares.

I'm not sure but have lots of info on trusts as we are going through the same thing. But 100% you do not need probate for a trust. A 'Trust' is set up to avoid Probate etc There are several Trusts and you should have a 'Letter of Wishes' it's called a Living Will. Discretionary..The trustee decides who gets the money and can add people on etc. If you let me know which trust you have I will look for the info

I'm assuming that the grandparent left money in trust to their grandchild in their will and that rather than it being an outright gift the money was left in trust with the parent to be trustee? If that is the case then the terms of the trust are probably set out in the will. If you don't have a copy of the will it is quite easy to get hold of from the Probabte Office
www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

If the will says that the funds are to be added to a pre existing trust then you will need to find a copy of the governing document for the trust (the Trust deed). The best starting point for this is probably to find the solicitor (or their firm) that drew up the will and ask them if they also have the trust deed.

The other possibility is that the money was left to the parent and that they decided that they didn't want it and varied the will to pass the funds on to the grandchild by a deed of variation - again the solicitor dealing with the will/probate is the best person to contact to find out.

Once you have the details of the trust whether as part of the will or a separate deed you can read it to find out what the terms of the trust are. This will tell you when the trust ends and the money is paid out to the beneficiary, whether the beneficiary is entitled to receive the income from the investments in the trust (and at what age) and what powers the trustees have to advance capital to the beneficiary before the end of the trust.

One other point to consider is whether the grandchild was under 18 at the time of the grandparent's death. If that was the case and the will simply said that an amount was left to the grandchild then the executors would probably have paid that sum to the parent to be held "on trust" for the child. That trust would be a "bare trust" which would end on the grandchild's 18th birthday and the funds should have been paid out to them at that point. (The situation may be different if the grandchild does not have mental capacity.)

Trusts are quite complex so if you need to appoint a solicitor to help then make sure that they are a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners as this means that they are a qualified specialist in this area - you can find a STEP member near you on their website

www.step.org/about-step/public