Will, and property in trust

RAS

AlanF said:

1. I've asked HMRC for a copy of the letter written to them in 2013 (their letter, posted earlier in the chain, acknowledges receipt of a letter from the family member - actually sent by the IFA on her behalf). They have said that the reference number no longer checks out (too old) and they consider the Trust to be obsolete as no records since 2013) and they only hold trust records for 7 years.

2. The solicitor has checked with Land Registry who say that the property was never transferred in 2013 when the IFA first created the Trust and transferred the property) - the only record of transfer they have is in 2022.

3. The solicitor has written to the IFA who has sent a very terse reply, much of which contradicts his emails to me - including him now saying that he sent all the trust documentation to our family member in 2013, and as he (IFA) isn't a trustee, he doesn't need to keep a record as it was more than 7 years ago (which begs the question why has he kept a copy of the 2013 HMRC letter?). Even worse, he has now put in writing to the solicitor that the family member and her son are the trustees and beneficiaries, having put (also in writing) to me that the family member is the sole trustee and beneficiary (which he previously justified as the reason for the trust not requiring a deed or any paperwork, as nobody else is involved!)' - direct quote to me in March this year with xxx replacing family member's name - “xxx is the sole trustee and the sole beneficiary, there are no other trustees or beneficiaries at this time, so ONLY xxx controls the trust and at present ONLY xxx benefits from it (hence why there is little documentation).” - letter to solicitor in August 2024 "The Trust established in 2013 was a discretionary trust. The trustees at the time were xxx (settlor) and her son yyy. On establishment of the trust the beneficiaries were xxx and her son yyy"

Any thoughts? And thanks in anticipation!

Has the IFA even confirmed that they were the person who recorded the restriction in 2022?

If so, they must have used some documentation? Given how long it takes for the LR to perform that could be two years prior, but the IFA certainly didn't return all documentation to the family member in 2013.

Might be worth asking @LandRegistry to have a look? They might need some title numbers by pm.

AlanF

Sorry, I thought I'd typed FCA not FSA! The IFA lists on his web site that the FCA is his regulator. Interestingly he lists the following as what he covers:

• Financial protection
• Investment planning and regular savings
• Retirement planning
• Advice at retirement
• Ongoing service

No mention of advice regarding property trusts. At the time he gave the advice, he also was advising about investments.

I accept that the Ombudsman or the FCA may not be able to help if this doesn't relate to financial products - although I'd have thought acting in a specialist area that is outside of one's sphere of competence and training would be of interest to a regulatory body, especially when the customer has assumed they are receiving advice from an IFA, and not from someone who is acting in a separate capacity during part of the discussions!

In response to RAS - regarding the Land Registry documentation used, their reply to our query about what evidence was submitted was: "Please note we do not normally need to see the trust deed (s.78, LRA 2002 ) when registering trustees on first registration, or on a transfer or other disposition of a registered estate. We do not hold any further details of the Trust deed. I have looked at the application form that was lodged, and there was no Trust Deed lodged with this application."

Thanks

dunstonh

I accept that the Ombudsman or the FCA may not be able to help if this doesn't relate to financial products - although I'd have thought acting in a specialist area that is outside of one's sphere of competence and training would be of interest to a regulatory body, especially when the customer has assumed they are receiving advice from an IFA, and not from someone who is acting in a separate capacity during part of the discussions!

I just checked a firm that I know does non-investment linked trusts (e..g property trusts), wills and LPOA etc, and their website has the disclaimer that the FCA does not regulate these activities.

The FCA register also has the following on all firms:



Any advice regarding FCA regulated areas (pensions, investments, lending and protection) gives you access to the FOS.   Anything outside of those does not.  However, it may be an activity covered by the solicitor's regulation authority.    However, probably not given when it was as it was a bit wild west back then.  Indeed, there is a local solicitors firm to us that passed all its Wills, property trust etc work to another limited company that used the unqualified spouse of the solicitor.   People thought they were using the solicitor firm but in reality, they were not.