Trust Wills: Porting a Trust to downsize. Who is liable for expenses

ToeSpan

Please can somebody help.
Just before he passed away my terminally ill step-father was persuaded by a solicitor, to put half of his and my mother's house in Trust, to safeguard against care home fees.
The Will states that "My Trustees will……..Pay any debts funeral and testamentary expenses”.
Since he passed, my mother has paid for everything on the house, all bills, insurances, and for the funeral in full, and has now run out of money and needs to downsize.
I gather that she can either port the Trust over, or move and disband the Trust paying off the beneficiaries. Either way, at the moment the Trust stands to get 50% of the proceeds of sale, but having not paid a penny, and there's still all the legal advice, selling costs and house clearance to pay for yet.
What we are desperate to find out (but will have to pay handsomely to find out from a layer) is:
Will 50% of the costs of moving house (estate agent, legal fees, house clearance) be paid for by the Trust when my mother moves house?
Is my mother owed anything back once the house is sold, for all the other running costs over the years, and in particular for half of the funeral costs.
Thank you so much in advance.

Keep_pedalling

Although legal ownership resides with the trust, your mother is the beneficial owner so will be responsible for ongoing costs. 

You will get better advice over on the Deaths, funerals and probate board regarding the trust so I have asked for this thread to be moved there.

poseidon1

Since it appears your Step father left little or no cash in his estate, what to do about the trust will likely turn on the value of the house at present, and how much capital your mother thinks she can release for the trust after downsizing.

Frankly, if the house value is relatively modest and downsizing achieves equally modest capital cash for the trust, there could be a case for varying your step father's will to get rid of the trust in its entirety so that your mother inherits everything outright.

Accordingly when did step father die, what is the total value of the house and what is the likely cost of a replacement?

Keep_pedalling

Who inherits the trust on your mother’s death? These types of trusts are often put in place to protect the inheritance of children from a previous relationship, if that is the case here then undoing the trust could only be done if the eventual beneficiaries are agreeable to make a deed of variation. 

Savvy_Sue

But note (as previous posters are aware) that a Deed of Variation can only be made within two years of the death - and the OP has not yet said how long ago stepfather died. 

doodling

Hi,

Start at the beginning - what document created the trust?  Who are the beneficiaries of the trust?  Who are the trustees?

RAS

Reported ...

WillowLeaf

poseidon1 said:

Frankly, if the house value is relatively modest and downsizing achieves equally modest capital cash for the trust, there could be a case for varying your step father's will to get rid of the trust in its entirety so that your mother inherits everything outright. 

Though the original purpose of the trust was to 'safeguard against care home fees' so the implications of getting rid of the trust need to be understood

Keep_pedalling

WillowLeaf said:

poseidon1 said:

Frankly, if the house value is relatively modest and downsizing achieves equally modest capital cash for the trust, there could be a case for varying your step father's will to get rid of the trust in its entirety so that your mother inherits everything outright. 

Though the original purpose of the trust was to 'safeguard against care home fees' so the implications of getting rid of the trust need to be understood

Although in this case the OP has not answered any questions and has not logged back in for a month so I don’t think they are going to learn anything from this thread. 

Notepad_Phil

poseidon1 said:

<spam name> said:

Sorry you and your mum are having to deal with this- it sounds like a really difficult situation.

Generally speaking funeral and testamentary expenses are usually paid from the estate first. If the Will says the trustees should cover funeral costs, there may be scope for your mum to be reimbursed, especially if she paid personally.

When it comes to selling the house, costs like estate agent fees, legal fees and clearance are often treated as sale costs and shared in line with ownership, so if the trust holds 50%, it would usually cover 50% of those costs before proceeds are split — subject to how the trust is written.

Ongoing household bills are more complicated, but costs that protected or preserved the property (like insurance) can sometimes be taken into account.

It’s very dependent on the wording of the will and trust, so getting someone to review both together is key. A short fixed-fee review can often clarify things without huge legal costs.

If it helps, I explain these kinds of situations regularly and you’re welcome to take a look at <spam>.

Hope that gives you a bit of clarity and best wishes to your mum.

Can the moderators remove this shameless spam, especially from a so called 'business' which was only incorporated just over a year ago, has yet to file any company accounts and a decidedly dodgy website.

It's now gone @poseidon1 -  you might want to remove their name from your quoted post to remove those spammy bits too.

poseidon1

Thanks,  now deleted.