life assurance and trust

drmjafri

4 hours now....however time worth spent in reading all the questions and answer posted on this website re - life assurance and trust.

However, still not 100 % sure, so thought of asking a query myself.

my situation- I am 32 years, non smoker, married, my is 30 yrs, non smoker. I have a son aged 4 months. I have a mortgage of 270,000 over 20 yrs, also a buy to let proeprty on interest only mortgage 150,000. all properties are in joint name.

i plan to take 4 policies-
a single decreasing life assurance+ critical 270,000 covering my mortgage in my name
b- similar policy in my wife name as above
c- single level term assurance - 150,000 in my name
d- similar policy in my wife name as in c above

i know now that I need to put the policy in trust to avoid- IHT, delay in payment

however

1- who should be the beneficiary in each policy.
a- if i put my wife name then it becomes part of her estate and and it will be liable to IHT at some point ie when she pops and money goes to my son

b- If i put my sons name, and if something happens to me then my son is too young to handle it. of course my wife is around, but say somethinf happens to both of us.

c- can i put only my sons name as beneficiary.

2- who are the trustees. for single policy can my wife be trustee. and vice versa. In addition to 1 more trustee in case anything happens to both of us at sametime.
Can that additional trustee be my friend or relative ( my sister)

3- i also read it cannot be changed. but also read that with flexible trust - it can be changed ie if i have more kids...can some one throw more light on it

4- say i dont have a will and if something happens to - all policy holder and beneficiaries as mentioned in trust ie no one left except the trustee, can he/ she (trustee) decide then who the money goes to ie my parents, brother

5- Out of interest, If i take joint policy linked to mortgage, can i put benefeciaries as surviving spouse and my son or just my son. As automatically all my money goes to my wife by default if i dont have a will

6- for life and critical together, how does putting in trust works. as in critical illness, beneficiaries will be myself. however in life illness component beneficiary cant be me but my wife and son

In one of the post there was mention of pension assurance.. any links or advice needed.

i did speak to my financial advisor last week. he did give me some quotation. but he never advised me regarding- trust, pension. i got more information on money saver expert. But I am not sure where to get proper advice.

any help... suggestion, advice... comment...criticism ....welcome

m