has anyone bought a house that will be in trust?

[inheritanceshiteagain]

Selling the main residence and buying a property that will be 50% owned outright and 50% in trust for the buyers lifetime. It will be a cash sale, no mortgage. Any idea how this works with the solicitors conveyancing fees etc?

Sorry not sure I fully understand the question, so you are selling your current house, buying a new one. You will own half the new house, and the other half will be in trust, but for who and why? Because it will be owned by a child or a disabled adult? Or will you also be the beneficiary of the trust? And the money coming to buy the house, all from your sale of current house, or from someone else (inheritance?), and if the latter is the money itself already in trust, and if so who are the trustees of it?

And what exactly is your question, will there be fees (yes!), how much or who pays them or how to go about setting it up? It sounds a bit complicated and you'd probably be best off talking to a solicitor...

(not me but a relative) Yes the daughters are selling current house and the husband is buying a smaller property. the excess from the sale of current house will go to two daughters of the late wife who are the other beneficiaries under her will. Two daughters and husband will own a 50% share each in the new home. Two daughters are executors of the will plus a solicitor they employed to do probate. We don't know who will be the trustees (?daughters and their solicitor). The husband has sole choice of the new house so will be dealing with solicitors, estate agents etc. All fees for the selling of the current house will come from the Estate. All fees for the new house will be paid by the husband.

The daughters want an estimate of the fees because half will need repaying if and when the second house is sold or their share bought by the husband.

So we just need to know how much the trusteeship will impact his solicitors fees on buying. He's called a solicitor and they will get back, but his secretary said being a trust property will increase normal buying fees. Asking his solicitor will cost around £300 each call so we are hoping someone has an idea. Will keep trying local solicitors via estate agents though.

Not disabled or on benefits or children, but adult daughters

Hello, we have some experience of this and the short answer is that Trusts are expensive.

My OH was a minor when his parents divorced in the 80s. My FIL was very well-off at the time and wanted to secure a home for his ex-wife that her new partner could not benefit from.

So he bought a house (like you, mortgage free) in which she had a lifetime right of residence, but which was in Trust for their son (my OH) when she dies - she could not will it to her spouse. They are both Trustees and he is the sole beneficiary - her rights are to residence only. There was also some advice that it would lessen inheritance tax when passing to him.

MIL is still in good health, now messily divorced from her 2nd husband so glad of FIL's instincts in that regard! But the original property got too much for her to maintain and she wanted to downsize.

It took several months of referrals from solicitor friends before we could even find someone qualified to act for us in the transaction - it's a niche area. The original house sold for £600K or thereabouts, the new one was purchased for £450K, and the solicitors fees were in excess of £25K (from memory).

When the (hopefully distant!) day comes that MIL dies and we wrap finally wrap up the Trust, I have no doubt that it will be similarly costly and time-consuming.

So it's important to be clear on why you are doing this, and ensure there's no other option that would be more cost-effective. Best of luck!