I think my mum has been scammed for a trust

[miniworry]

I've just spoken to my mother (age 67) who has informed me that in July she used a company to put her house into trust with both my brother and I as the beneficiaries.

When I asked to see the trust so I could just read through it (my brother doesn't yet own a house so I wanted to see if this affects his qualification as a first time buyer) my mother then informed me that's she's actually had no paperwork at all about the trust, she was just sent forms and then signed them. Apparently the company told her that she doesn't need a copy as they keep all that info here'.

My stomach immediately dropped and I asked her how much she paid ... £4000 🥺 I've since looked at the title documents from the land registry online and I can see that she is still the legal owner.

The company is viva planning and even one look on their website gives me the hunch it's not legit.

She's been scammed hasn't she? What are the immediate steps I can take now? My worry is she has no idea what forms she completed so only knows what she's signed over!

The thing is OP's Mum has not been scammed, in the eyes of the law what the Will writers have done is perfectly acceptable (it isn't).
As for all the talk about land registry and everything else, don't waste your time OP you will need a solicitor who specialises in Trust funds to try and resolve this.
There is nothing wrong with your Mum she has just fallen victim to high pressure selling techniques (think Time shares).
The tactics they employ are totally unacceptable but there is nothing to stop them. I bet your Mum has attended meetings where she has been subjected to the type of selling techniques (scare tactics) which have fed into her insecurities around care home fees. These people are deplorable and know exactly what they are doing.
Please don't blame your Mum blame the con artists who are allowed to operate in this way.
I only hope as your Mum is still alive and can advocate for herself you might be able to get out of the situation more easily than was my experience.
The Will writers won't give you any information, go straight in with a Freedom of Information request, which is what I had to do.

As a will writer (and formerly a family lawyer for donkeys years), I am embarrassed to read threads like this.

I'm a member of the Institute of Professional Will Writers, fully insured, have to do 18 hours CPD every year (more than when I was a "proper lawyer"!, and am often handed wills which have been drafted by some bloke who is no doubt very good at flogging insurance and pensions but has absolutely no clue how to draft a valid will. The client often thinks the will is perfectly fine.

On Friday, I looked at a woman's will which gave her residuary estate to herself, not her husband.

It's really rather alarming!

My parents were advised to do this by what I thought was a reputable solicitor and the cost would’ve been £3,000 at the time. I thought it sounded dodgy so I went to get a second opinion and was told exactly that. Sorry OP. Ask if there’s a cooling off period and see if you can get her out of it.

Worry stuff - I have an 84 year old father with decreasing faculties, and I worry about something like this happening to him...

Eighteen hours of CPD a year doesn't sound very much!

Quick search on companies house only one director… Viva Facilities Management Limited who has connections to two dissolved companies including a Timeshare Solutions Ltd…

Last micro accounts don’t look great. Reporting micro company with few assets! Looks like was incorporated during covid.

Contact Action Fraud.

Nope it doesn't. I have to do 45 as a Tax Technician and that's not even Chartered level. I'm very surprised 18 is more than a "proper lawyer"

18 hours is to keep on top of any new changes - we are already fully qualified solicitors so 18 hours CPD is perfectly normal to keep current. There aren’t that many changes!

Mumblechum totally agree - brings the profession into disrepute. Lifetime trusts for small to medium estates are almost always inappropriate. They are clearly breaching the deprivation of assets rules if the “sell” is avoiding care fees.

There are some fundamental misunderstandings on this thread as to how such (legitimate) trusts work and I don’t even know where to start addressing these.

Suffice it to say, putting assets in trust, whether a property or otherwise, is a long established and legitimate means of estate planning and reducing inheritance tax. Assets in trust do not form part of that person’s estate, and provided they live for seven years or more, will fall outside the scope of IHT. (It’s not quite as straightforward as that but you should get the gist). However, they are expensive to set up and maintain.

Doing so to avoid care home fees is more problematic as the seven year rule for IHT does not apply to deprivation of assets for care home fees. In some circumstances it can work - but really the tool is best for estate planning

Putting your property into trust and still living in it is not an effective planning tool. This is classed as a gift with reservation of benefit and means the asset stays within the estate for IHT purposes.

I wouldn’t go anywhere near anybody flogging such a scheme.

Exactly. The trusts you describe myrtle are for those with large estates and liquid assets. For the average couple whose estate is under £1m and their main asset is their house which they need to live in then lifetime trusts are usually not appropriate.

As pp correctly say If you live in the house you are caught by reservation of benefit rules so no iht benefit there and if you are avoiding care fees by using the trust you likely breach the deprivation of assets rules. Plus you lose your MRNRB by using a discretionary trust.

The person in question is 67, ffs! Hardly "elderly."
I'm only 5 years off that age and there's no way I am in need of advice from my children about finances at this stage in my life.
If the OP's parent has been taken in by a scam, it's likely more to do with basic naivety than age.

... or possibly suffering some level of cognitive decline, sadly. I'm OP's mum's age and would check out any company like this very carefully before using them.

Don't forget that citizens advice have a panel of solicitors whom specialise in different areas of the law and give their time pro bono initially. I used them for an employment issue a while back and the solicitor I spoke to I subsequently instructed - received exceptional advice and the situation was sorted out well. Just a thought if you don't know where to turn.