Can this be right?

Asher

I am sorting out probate and have come across someone at work that tells me they do not need probate because when their father died he left his house to his two children in a trust.

I have no idea what sort of trust but I do know that the mother died two or three years ago and at that time the parents had "mirror wills". After the father got the dead mother's share of the house he (the father) made a will putting the house in a trust, the names on the trust were his own (the father's) and his two grown children. The father died recently and apparently there is no need for probate and they can sell the house and divide the money.

Inheritance tax is not an issue because all of the assets combined do not come to the amount where you would pay it but even if it did this person at work says it would not have been a problem due to this trust. All of this was dealt with by a well known will writing company.

Is any of that likely to be true? Or am I having my leg pulled?

SevenOfNine

This is probably a bit like that game 'Chinese Whispers', gets increasingly muddled as it's passed on from person to person!

Father inherited everything, then made a Will putting the house in a trust in his own & 2 sons names.......I got stuck there, if he had that in HIS new Will it's a bit pointless, as it would kick in when he died so not much use him being named as trustee or beneficiary (or both) - he's dead.

I don't think this info is quite accurate.

Yorkshireman99

The people who used such a company were probably relieved of a lot of money for no reason! Without seeing the details of the wills and the trust it is hard to say if what you have even told is correct.

Crabapple

It's possible to do this. Highly unlikely to work for IHT unless there's a lot more to it than just a trust, but certainly to avoid probate.

It is likely to have cost them circa £3k (min) to set this up, versus potentially a couple of hundred for probate of course, but might not be worth pointing that out!

Asher

Crabapple wrote: »

It's possible to do this. Highly unlikely to work for IHT unless there's a lot more to it than just a trust, but certainly to avoid probate.

It is likely to have cost them circa £3k (min) to set this up, versus potentially a couple of hundred for probate of course, but might not be worth pointing that out!

Not worth it then?

They used a will writing company and paid a lot of money and pay a retainer to look after documents. The two grown children also have wills drawn up by the same company and pay a retainer too.

I think the old man was wanting to make sure his wife's half was not swallowed up if he had to go into a home. He never did go into a home in spite of being very frail but would that have been the motivation do you think?

Yorkshireman99

Asher wrote: »

Not worth it then?

They used a will writing company and paid a lot of money and pay a retainer to look after documents. The two grown children also have wills drawn up by the same company and pay a retainer too.

I think the old man was wanting to make sure his wife's half was not swallowed up if he had to go into a home. He never did go into a home in spite of being very frail but would that have been the motivation do you think?

The two children should get new wills made by a solicitor and ask for all the documents to be returned by the will writing company. The trust would not have prevented assets being taken for care costs. If the will company claimed they would then that was probably fraud. Google gifts with reservation.

p00hsticks

Asher wrote: »

I think the old man was wanting to make sure his wife's half was not swallowed up if he had to go into a home. He never did go into a home in spite of being very frail but would that have been the motivation do you think?

Perhaps it could have been that the couple owned the property as tenants in common (half each) and their wills left their individual halves to their children, but with a proviso that the surviving partner could live in it until their death ....?