Placing property in trust for children.

57Peppa

Good evening

Am posting in the hope that someone is able to advise us on the following or point us in a direction where we can get help please.

My Mum has followed up an advert she saw in her local paper for a company who claimed to be able to protect her assets from any future social care fees by placing her property in trust for myself and my two siblings. They told her that if she did this herself then the local authority could see it as asset deprivation and would try to claim on her estate. However, if she allowed them to make arrangements they claimed that from the moment she signed the paperwork (and paid the £2400 fee) her assets would be protected. We fail to see why using this company would protect her against accusation of asset deprivation.

My Mum and Dad made their wills in 2008. They were a mirror of each other’s wills and both stated that upon their death, their half share in the house they owned would be held in trust for their three children with the surviving parent having the right to continue to live in the house for their lifetime. It did also state that the Trustees may sell the house and buy another one to which the provisions of this clause then apply.

My father died in 2013. My mother then sold their house in 2019 and moved into a flat for the over 55s. We did need to give our permission for her to sell the old property, but are not named on the deeds of the new property. Her solicitors said that as she had sold the original property her original will was null and void and she made another will. Mum has lost faith in the solicitors as she feels they ‘didn’t seem to know what they were doing’, (although this could be a case of her not fully understanding what was said to her). We were granted probate for Dad’s will in 2014, so this surely cannot be deemed null and void.

We want to be sure that Dad’s wishes are respected and his share of the property remains in trust for us. We also want to be sure that Mum doesn’t fork out £2400 on something that will prove to be pointless.

Sorry for the long post and any advice will be gratefully received.

Keep_pedalling

Tell her not to touch these people with a very long barge poll. Your father’s trust is not under threat and your mother would be very foolish to do this.

As far as putting your mother share in trust is concerned it would be seen as deliberate deprivation of assets so she would just be throwing money away for a useless trust. If she has to fund care then she will be in a better position than those who can’t who basically get Hobson’s choice. 

Savvy_Sue

Are these even proper solicitors? Even if they are, Kp's advice is sound ... 

57Peppa

Thank you for the replies. This is what we suspected. We would rather the money did go to providing her with a good level of care if and when that should be needed. Our main worry was her spending a large sum of money on something useless.

AnotherJoe

Oh, it could be worse than useless. There was a big scandal a few years back where the guy who ran such a trust ran off to foreign climes and it was very difficult and expensive to gain access to the money when people died or decided they needed it because he was the one that had control and was unreachable.

 

TBagpuss

Yes, your mum definitely shouldn't do this. If she has lost faith in the solicitor who did her previous will then it would make sense for her to speak to a new one - look for one who is a member of 'STEP' who should be able to talk her through the trust and her choices moving forward. They may be able to advise about whether there needs to be a restriction on the title of your mum's current home to protect you and your siblings , (which of course would not stop you from then using the equity to fund her care fees if need be, but would ensure that the paperwork accurately reflects your interest, and might also make it harder for anyone to take advantage of your mum as any dealing with the property would also have to involve you

sassyblue

Don’t ever use anyone other than a solicitor to advise or sort out things like this. There’s no reason (other than their financial gain) that these companies get involved.

Whilst you're here you need to sort Power of Attorney for your mother for both financial affairs and property matters NOW before she really doesn’t understand what’s going on or gets involved with other unscrupulous dealings.