Wills /property

[TealSwan]

can anyone advise me on how I go about doing a will.i have my own property but I've also a young man of 17 with special needs so I want to leave my property to him to be sold for his future care. Have two older children but they had money from me following my accident in 2013.

I would suggest finding a solicitor who specialises in this kind of thing, you are going to need some sort of trust setting up. It's very important to get it right. You need to consider trustees. You should also think about Powers of Attorney for both of you too.

You might be better posting on the send board. Mencap do online training for parents about wills and trusts. Definitely worth booking on as they give a good overview. You will probably want to set up a vulnerable person's trust and put the house into that for your son. This costs a few thousand pounds and you will need a solicitor to do it for you. You also need trustees to manage the trust. The benefit is that this won't affect his benefits and you don't pay inheritance tax on the money in the trust. Your other kids could be the trustees maybe?
https://www.mencap.org.uk/advice-and-support/wills-and-trusts-service

Also if you set the trust up before you dies, you can put his rent money in there if he is living with you to top it up a bit for him.

Meet with a solicitor.

Treat all your kids equally.

Did you get out of the wrong side of bed this morning? Hope you are feeling more cheerful after a cuppa and some food.

Equality is giving people what they need in life to each access and reach the same point, which is what op is doing by giving her disadvantaged child more money. Plus it is totally the ops choice to do what she wants with her money and that is not what this post is about. Putting money in trust for a disabled child safeguards them against people taking advantage of them and also takes pressure off of the other two siblings to step in and look after their brother financially. Without a trust, the other two will be in a much more difficult situation.

As others have said, it would be best to speak to a solicitor about this.

It is likely that a Vulnerable Persons Trust would be used.

This is a trust that is set up for someone who is under 18 and has lost a parent or someone who is mentally and/or physically disabled.

The aim is to provide long-term care and financial support for the vulnerable person who may not otherwise be able to care for themselves or manage their own finances.

There are various rules about what counts as disabled but typically if they were entitled to something like Attendance Allowance or Personal Independence Payment then they would definitely be counted.

A good thing about this type of trust is that it allows the beneficiary to receive means-tested benefits as the value of the trust is not counted.

My older two have had plenty of cash and I mean plenty and they don't want anymore as my son with SN will need it more than them. They both agreed.