Money has to be held in Trust(?) but solicitor has the funds.

bowlerhatwithsleeves

Hi. I hope someone can help with this, because I'm more than a little lost with it all.

My dad died and left my two daughters (10 and 16), a share of his estate but the stipulation is that they can't have the money until they're 18. I believe the Solicitors were the executors and were the ones to look after selling his house, etc. So they are holding my daughters' share of the money and they want me to set up a trust fund type thing that will hold the money.

My 16 yo will be 18 in a little over a year so for ease at the moment I'm thinking that just needs holding and she/we can figure out what to do more long term when she's 18.

My 10 yo on the other hand will need something that will at least try to keep up with inflation.

I've looked on line and the only things I can find are trust funds where a grandparent, or other, set up the fund and pays the money in from their account however, I can't find anything where the money is held by a third party. I'm sure this isn't a particular situation but I need help.

The solicitors are being very unhelpful, which I suppose is because they aren't working for me(!). We aren't in a position to be able to afford any sort of financial or legal support so any help will be much appreciated.

I'm completely out of my depth with this sort of thing so won't be offended if you treat me as such.

Thanks

Keep_pedalling

MayI ask how much they have been left, not being nosey but the answer to your question very much depend on if we are talking a few thousand that could be placed in. JISA, a very large amount of money or somewhere in between.

The 10 year old is going to a bit more trickery but the 16 year old’s money could be placed in one of the NS&I products that allows trust accounts.

Marcon

The solicitors are being very unhelpful, which I suppose is because they aren't working for me(!).

There are often comments about a solicitor, insurance company etc being 'very unhelpful' (often expressed in far less restrained terms!) when in truth they are simply acting correctly - and in accordance with legislation which is frequently highly restrictive in terms of what they can and can't do/say. It can be as frustrating for them as it is for the person doing the complaining.

What exactly leads you to believe they are being unhelpful - or (if it's easier to answer) what have you asked them where you don't consider the reply was helpful?

We aren't in a position to be able to afford any sort of financial or legal support so any help will be much appreciated.

Have a look at https://www.lawworks.org.uk/legal-advice-individuals/find-legal-advice-clinic-near-you

If there isn't a suitable one close to you geographically, a number of these free clinics operate by telephone and/or online, so maybe approaching one of those would assist?

bowlerhatwithsleeves

Hi @Keep_pedalling
I don't have an exact figure but I believe his house sold for around 210K, and I have no idea what he had in terms of other monies invested or saved. But a rough estimate is around 20% each. I hope that helps?

Hi @Marcon
To be honest there's no really need to get into my thoughts about the solicitors, I maybe shouldn't have included that in my original question but I have found their lack of communication very frustrating. Let's leave it at that. :-)

Thank you for the link, I'll see what I can find. 🙏

Marcon

To be honest there's no really need to get into my thoughts about the solicitors, I maybe shouldn't have included that in my original question but I have found their lack of communication very frustrating. Let's leave it at that. :-)

Fair enough, but let me throw in one thought. For every person who criticises solicitors for a lack of communication there's at least one other who complains about the fees - happily overlooking the fact that every communication increases those fees…and if you aren't even the client…hopefully you take my point!

webmasterpolo

The Will would be the trust deed for the purpose of this, you need to be aware of who are the appointed trustees as these are the people in charge of the money that can open the accounts. If that is the solicitor (executor and trustee are different roles) then the solicitor is responsible for doing this but will of course charge for their time. If you are a trustee then you can do this:

Short term monies can be held in a bank account in the name of the trust. The issue is very few banks will allow the opening of new trust bank accounts as it's an admin headache for them with no cross sale opportunity (current accounts are loss leaders for banks).

Last time I looked at this all the big banks would not do it, Metro bank was the only one I found outside of local building societies but they charge £150 to open and a monthly fee. So I would ask your local BS.

Longer term monies can be invested for higher potential, but would likely require financial advice. Ask for recommendations from F&F.

HTH

bowlerhatwithsleeves

@webmasterpolo Thanks for this.

"Short term monies can be held in a bank account in the name of the trust."

Does this mean I create an account in my name, or…?

"Ask for recommendations from F&F."

Apologies, I don't know what this means.

silvercar

F&F= friends and family.

someone needs to open and account in the name of ‘trust for 10 year old’s name’. The trustees should be named as such in the will, though you could ask the trustee to relinquish their role as trustee in favour of yourself.

webmasterpolo

Think about the trust like this, it is a separate person, Mr Trust. Mr Trust opens the bank account in Mr Trust name and Mr Trust holds the money for the benefit of someone else. If you are the trustee you get to tell Mr Trust what to do.