Declaration of Trust

paye

Hi,

Just wanted to know if anyone had a declaration of trust drawn up and how do you go about having one in place.

Story behind this is I know someone who is a UK resident has let a family member who lives abroad purchased flats under his name, but it's not technically his but belongs to his cousin. To avoid any problems in the future he was thinking of getting a declaration of trust drawn up. Is this a legal document?

xylophone

The UK resident has a relative who lives abroad?

The foreign resident has purchased UK properties in the name of the UK resident and all these properties are registered in the name of the UK resident?

Apodemus

xylophone wrote: »

The UK resident has a relative who lives abroad?

The foreign resident has purchased UK properties in the name of the UK resident and all these properties are registered in the name of the UK resident?

That is my reading of the OP's post, although it is not clear which party wants the trust drawn up.

I would think that the Trust is the least of the problems from this arrangement. At present, the U.K. resident owns the properties and will be legally responsible for everything associated with them...from third party liabilities to Capital Gains Tax.

I would urge them to seek professional advice asap, although I guess it is possible that the very reasons that this deal has been entered into may preclude the UK resident putting their head above the parapet!

antrobus

paye wrote: »

... To avoid any problems in the future he was thinking of getting a declaration of trust drawn up. Is this a legal document?

Yes. It would be a fat lot of good if it wasn't. Any solicitor should be able to get one done.

Of course, it would be more interesting to establish why this arrangement has been entered into. I would guess that tax avoidance is the motive.

getmore4less

The legal owner and the beneficial owner do not have to be the same people.

Important to get the trust docks in place some potential nasty tax implications without them.

Also a bit of a mess if one or both die.

Apodemus

antrobus wrote: »

Yes. It would be a fat lot of good if it wasn't. Any solicitor should be able to get one done.

Of course, it would be more interesting to establish why this arrangement has been entered into. I would guess that tax avoidance is the motive.

...and some interesting questions to answer on money laundering!