Distribution of discretionary trust

Trustnovice

My parents had mirror wills setting up nil rate band discretionary trusts. Mum, sister and I are executors, trustees and beneficiaries of said trust (but mum now lacks capacity and we have PoA for her. Following my dad's recent death, his assets have gone into this trust. My mother has no way of spending the income from the trust (in a care home with dementia, fees fully paid and lots of excess investments). As the remaining trustees, can we distribute contents of said trust to ourselves as beneficiaries then close it down? Surely a conflict of interest, but how else do we make use of it?

And how does distributing a trust work? Do we record it somewhere? Does it go as a loan?

All advice welcome - had an appt today with a solicitor who just confused me even more!

Yorkshireman99

Trustnovice wrote: »

My parents had mirror wills setting up nil rate band discretionary trusts. Mum, sister and I are executors, trustees and beneficiaries of said trust (but mum now lacks capacity and we have PoA for her. Following my dad's recent death, his assets have gone into this trust. My mother has no way of spending the income from the trust (in a care home with dementia, fees fully paid and lots of excess investments). As the remaining trustees, can we distribute contents of said trust to ourselves as beneficiaries then close it down? Surely a conflict of interest, but how else do we make use of it?

And how does distributing a trust work? Do we record it somewhere? Does it go as a loan?

All advice welcome - had an appt today with a solicitor who just confused me even more!

It is essential you get for professional advice. Choos a solicitor who is a trust specialist ie a STEP member. Solicitors who are not trust specialists will not be up to the job as you have found out. The POA may not allow you to wind the trust up.