Property Trust Will

RichLH

Hi
We tried to get some wills made up, but apparently our situation is too complex for a simple mirror will.

When we bought our house we were unmarried (both divorced with our own kids) and my girlfriend put much more deposit in than me.

To make things fair we got a “Deed of Trust” which specified that my wife got the bigger share of any profit made on the sale of the house.

19 years down the line we got married.

However, we still want to abide by the agreement so her daughter gets her share and my two kids mine.

But apparently the agreement makes us “Tenants In Common”.

We were advised by the charity doing our free wills that we should look at getting a “Property Trust Will”.

From what I understand normally you become “Tennants In Common” and the house is split 50/50.

(But we don’t own it Jointly which may be the issue).

You normally specify the beneficiaries and when the 1st Owner dies 50% of the house goes into a “Trust”.

I had a thought that maybe we could specify all the children (mine and hers) initially so they each get 1/3rd of the “Trust”.

I could then perhaps compensate her daughter by leaving some of my pension pot (as that is separate from the Will via an Expression of wish).

But what I am trying to establish is.

What happens to the proceeds of the house when the 2nd Adult (now tenant) dies ?

Is it split in the same ratio as the original Trust (divided equally amongst the 3 children) or can you specify something different ?

Also the wording of our present “Deed of Trust” states it comes into effect when the house is sold. It was originally intended in case we split up.

Hopefully that won’t happen.

I think we can revoke it by writing to the Land Registry.

But I wonder if we could get it re-worded to say it only takes affect if we split up and the house is sold ?

We are in a bit of a strange position where she did not want me owning an equal share of the house, or paying more mortgage, so I hammered my pension contributions as my nest egg, knowing either I get to spend it our my kids benefit.

With the big rises in house prices, her nest egg is tied up in the profit from the house, which either she spends our it goes to her daughter.

At some point we will downsize when we retire and that will release some money for her and we will have to revisit the Will.

But this is basically this is planning for our children whilst making sure the survivor gets to stay in the house.

We will need a solicitor at some point, but I am wondering if anyone has had a similar experience, or perhaps works in this field and can comment

Thanks 

Keep_pedalling

The devision does not have to be 50/50 so you can abide by the original DoT. Don’t put off getting a solicitor to draft up your wills, you should not pennypinch on such important documents in your situation.

msb1234

My mother’s house was held as Tenants in Common with an 80/20 split. When she died, her will stated that her house be shared between her children. So we got 80% of the value of her house whilst my stepfather got 20%. 

getmore4less

The DOT should not be that much of a problem once you work out what you want to happen.
.
Many DOT that get highlighted(during splits) on MSE are not very good anyway most don't do things like take account of mortgage, maintenance or improvement properly*.

Typical couple scenario are based around  life interests that give the survivor the right/option to remain in the property and/or option that allow moves and downsizing.

I would review the DOT and the last 20+ years to see if the original still make sense given there will have been financial inputs that probably make the original split not longer fair.

The next thing on the list is what happens when one of you dies, do you go down the life interest for life or some other proposal,  might be the property is not suitable for the survivor at some point so they need to move.

The issue with a wide split if you decide to effectively cash out is will your share(should you be the survivor) be big enough to house you if not then that needs thinking about.

The long issue with life interest for life is the kids may never see their potential inheritance. 

Often it make things a lot easier and clearer thoughts  if you work through some what iffs.

Start with what if one or both of you died tomorrow what would you want to happen.



Legal ownership is always joint tenants on death the title goes to the survivor(s)
Beneficial ownership is normally done by will but this can be done in conjunction with a DOT.

  
* you said bigger deposit many DOT we see base the % on the deposits and ignore the mortgage which is often paid 50:50

eg   £200k house  one puts down £25k the other £75k  and £100k mortgage to be split 50:50.

some say the split is 25:75   when it should be   37.5:62.5