How To Find Out If Property Put Into A Trust?

woodbine66

My father is 92 and in a dementia care home. As well as owning the family home with my mother, he owns a shop with flat above in his own name that is rented out. Many years ago my father told some friends that the rental property had been put into a trust - though he never directly told me or my brother this information.

I can find no written info about a trust and don't know which solicitor he may have used. My father isn't the most truthful or honest of people and it's possible the trust was a figment of his imagination. My mother doesn't know anything as he kept her in the dark about all finances, etc. Is there a register of trusts or any other way I could find out if indeed the property is in a trust? Thanks in advance for any information.

Keep_pedalling

Your starting point is checking who owns the property with the Land Registry.

https://search-property-information.service.gov.uk/?_ga=2.227252893.1011285419.1624257816-2123334908.1623227908

Has he had a financial assessment for care costs?

doodling

Hi,

woodbine66 said:

My father is 92 and in a dementia care home. As well as owning the family home with my mother, he owns a shop with flat above in his own name that is rented out. Many years ago my father told some friends that the rental property had been put into a trust - though he never directly told me or my brother this information.

I can find no written info about a trust and don't know which solicitor he may have used. My father isn't the most truthful or honest of people and it's possible the trust was a figment of his imagination. My mother doesn't know anything as he kept her in the dark about all finances, etc. Is there a register of trusts or any other way I could find out if indeed the property is in a trust? Thanks in advance for any information.

Assuming that the property was registered with the Land Registry then they will tell you who the legal owners are - what does it say?  (Note that there are concepts of legal owners (e.g. as identified by the Land Registry) and beneficial owners (who may not be identified at the Land Registry), but normally a trust would be a legal owner).

If the property is registered and a trust isn't shown as the legal owner then it is highly unlikely to be owned by one.  (This doesn't include the possibility of an IPDI trust created by a will where executors / trustees can sometimes take a relaxed approach to updating the Land Registry, but you've given no indication that the trust arose as a result of a death).

poseidon1

woodbine66 said:

My father is 92 and in a dementia care home. As well as owning the family home with my mother, he owns a shop with flat above in his own name that is rented out. Many years ago my father told some friends that the rental property had been put into a trust - though he never directly told me or my brother this information.

I can find no written info about a trust and don't know which solicitor he may have used. My father isn't the most truthful or honest of people and it's possible the trust was a figment of his imagination. My mother doesn't know anything as he kept her in the dark about all finances, etc. Is there a register of trusts or any other way I could find out if indeed the property is in a trust? Thanks in advance for any information.

If its clear your father declared the rental income has his own, paid personal tax thereon and used the net rental for his own benefit, then there is likely no trust. 

He may well have intended a trust at some point and even subsequently executed a trust deed to that effect.  However, by subsequently ignoring it in its entirety and operating on the basis that it did not exsist, he rendered the trust null and void having failed two of the three certainties of a valid express trust ( ie certainty of intention and certainty of beneficial objects).

Therefore even if you found evidence of an executed deed, it would be likely  nullified by your father's failure to adhere to any of its requirements.