Property Trust Wills – Protective Property Trust
Your home is often your biggest asset so if you are a joint homeowner it is normal to be concerned about what would happen to your share of the property when you are gone, or if you needed to pay for long-term care in the future.
A Property Trust Will makes certain that you and your partner own 50% of the property each and stops the property ever going to unwanted beneficiaries, guaranteeing that your assets are passed down to the people you care about.
By undertaking a Property Trust Will, you are creating a life interest on the death of the first partner in relation to their share of the home. For example, when you or your partner pass away the property is left with the surviving partner for the rest of their lifetime, and upon their death, the property then passes to any children or a nominated beneficiary.
A Property Trust Will is suited to those that are married or in a civil partnership and would like to:
- Protect an estate and/or home against the cost of potential future care fees
- Ensure that any children (or a nominated beneficiary) receive at least half of the value of the house upon death
- Ensure that a partner can continue to live in the home after your days
To speak to our expert Wills, Trusts and Probate Solicitors in South Wales, please contact your local JCP Solicitors office. We have offices in the following locations:
If there is not a local office to you, contact us on 03333 208644 as we are happy to arrange telephone and video meetings where appropriate. Alternatively, please feel free to email us at hello@jcpsolicitors.co.uk, fill in our online enquiry form, or use our live web chat facility.
Frequently asked questions
A Property Trust can be set up as part of the Will making process where you and your partner leave a share of your property within the trust and become trustees. Upon your death, the executors of your Will become the trustees of your 50% share, leaving your partner the other 50% share.
In order to undertake Property Trust Wills, you and your partner need to be listed as ‘tenants in common’ rather than as joint tenants. This is due to the fact that if the property is owned as joint tenants, on the death of the first partner, their share of the property will pass automatically to the surviving partner. If this happens then the clause in your Will relating to the property trust cannot be put into effect. Should you decide to make a Property Trust Will with us, we would be happy to sever the joint tenancy on the property at the same time as drafting the Will.
By undertaking a Property Trust Will, when the time comes, the surviving partner will be allowed to remain living in the property for the rest of their life but will not own the property in its entirety. They will own their 50% share but the remaining 50% share will be held by the trustees agreed upon in the terms of the trust.
In the event that the surviving partner wants to move from the property in the future, then the trustees can agree to a sale and the new property can be purchased jointly in the names of the trustees and the surviving partner.
In the event that the surviving partner requires nursing home care in the future, only one-half of the property will be taken into account in a Local Authority means test as funding for this. This is because the surviving partner will not own the other 50% – it will be owned by the trustees.
As the surviving partner will have a life interest, they will be entitled to any income derived from the property. This means that if the property is sold when the surviving partner goes into a nursing home and the trust’s share of the money is invested, any interest arising on the funds will be paid to the surviving partner and this will help to fund their nursing home care.
However, the capital investment cannot be used for nursing home provision unless all beneficiaries are in agreement with this. The Local Authority cannot demand payment from the trust share of the proceeds of the sale.
If the surviving partner was to marry/ re-marry in the future and does not make adequate provision for the children (or the deceased’s nominated beneficiaries) in their Will or fails to make a new Will, then one half of the property will be safeguarded for the children (or their nominated beneficiaries).