Family Protection Trust? Good or bad?

Sewsosew · 21 July 2011 at 10:00AM

If I have posted this in the wrong place I apologise but it looked like the best bet. Recently my husband and I had an appointment (arranged via our building society) with a will writing specialist who was promoting the creation of a Family Protection Trust to save our home being sold to pay care home costs in the future. I have MS so a care home is a real possibility. There are some other benefits too.
It all seemed too good to be true. Does anyone have any experience of this kind of thing?

CannySaver_2 · 21 July 2011 at 10:10AM

Hi

Some thoughts for you:

1. There are a reason why some things are too good to be true, they probably are!

2. On a more helpful point, it is generally accepted that these sorts of things work best (when they work at all) if done before someone becomes ill, unfortunately this is not the case with yourself

3. Will writers are unregulated, if you ever have to make a complaint you have no where to go. The Law Society and the Legal Ombudsman have no juristiction over will writers. That's not to say it will go wrong but be warned!

4. I'd do see a solicitor, or even two, tell them what you are trying to achieve and what you have been advised, a second and third opinion is vital on something as important as this

I'd always use a Solicitor when dealing with legal matters, you need someone to complain to if it goes wrong, yes you might pay a little more, but I'd still recommend using someone regulated rather than a will writer.

The Canny Saver

Sewsosew · 21 July 2011 at 10:53AM

Thanks CannySaver, those are good points. I think we will just see our solicitor and revise the wills we made years ago. He seems to be really honest and helpful. We may run things past our financial adviser too.

To be honest the building society was having a promotion on this sort of thing and we agreed to the appointment as there was no obligation. The lady was fairly low-key in her approach and gave us some papers to take away and read, there was no pressure selling.