Will trust

Judi

Hello
Does anyone know what options there are for a right to reside will trust for a property that was Tenants in Common, when it comes to an end due to remarriage, which is a clause in the will?

Should the beneficiaries update the title deed as the share of property is no longer in trust?

are there any financial responsibilities that are no longer covered under the trust?

can the existing trust remain despite the clause?

can a new trust be set up?

I will get legal advice but just doing a bit of homework.

thanks

Keep_pedalling

What exactly does the clause about remarriage say? 

Keep_pedalling

When you say partner do you mean surviving spouse? 

Are the eventual beneficiaries (remaindermen) blood relatives of the surviving spouse? If not in their shoes I would be reluctant to allow them to carry on living there once the terms of the trust require it to be wound up there is just so much that can can go wrong in the following years. 

Newly_retired

Surely it means the trust ceases? The property will need to be sold, to release cash for the survivor and the beneficiaries.

Keep_pedalling

As they were not married having your mother’s share in trust is pointless as does not offer the tax advantages that the same sort of trust would offer where the life tenant was a surviving spouse. 

The ideal solution here would be for her partner to buy out her share which would provide a clean break. If that is not financially possible then you should register your ownership with the land registry to protect your inheritance. The problem here is this could drag on for decades. What happens for instance if he leaves his share to his wife. 

poseidon1

Judi said:

The house was jointly owned by my late mother and her partner, not married, my mother having the smaller share. He has a right to live in the house as he is a legal owner, along with my mother, only on her death her share was held in trust so he can stay until he dies or marries. Once the trust ends we have a right to ask for the house to be sold to get our share, but he would not agree to this, nor would we want him to have to sell. But we would want to have something in place, legally, that lays down the conditions similar to the trust.

Clearly he cannot refuse  sale of property after death ( pursuant to a term of your mother's will trust) after he has died, so your concern appears to be that he has apparently remarried ( implied by your intial post) and this supposedly breaches another condition of your mother's will.

 Frankly I would need to see the clause verbatim to determine if what you are saying has occurred is an indeed an event that has actually brought the trust to an end ( ie remarriage) since it could be seen as  unreasonable to expect the surviving spouse to necessarily be in a position to release capital from his own resources to buy out the trust's share simply because he has remarried. Can you supply this?

However, if the trust clause transpires to be iron clad in this regard, and the surviving spouse is wholly resistant to complying following his remarriage, then as beneficiaries you should certainly protect your expectant interest as suggested by Keep_pedalling by way of a Form A restriction on the land register thereby blocking  future dealings with the property without your permission.

As to whether you can take legal action to forcibly  recoup trust funds, who are the current trustees of your mother's Will Trust? I would expect the partner to be one the trustees but are their any others, and could pressure be brought to bear to get them to assist in this matter to avoid expensive litigation?

Depending on the percentage value of the property owned by the trust, it maybe possible for the partner to obtain an equity release mortgage to release the trust capital to you ( assuming he has no capital of his own), but of course he would need to be willing to pursue that course of action.