Trusts

City & Country Financial Services can provide the following trusts in the Wills they write.

 

Protective Property Trusts 

Protective Property Trusts are for home owning couples to make sure that the property is owned in equal shares, and that the survivor has a lifetime right of residence.  This should protect half of the home from being sold to pay creditors – the most common of which is the Local Council (for Care Fees) whilst allowing the Trustees freedom to top up Care Fees if they wish to.

This structure also has substantial benefits for younger couples where the survivor may remarry and create a new family.  For couples (married or unmarried ) who have children from different relationships. Each Partner/spouse would determine who would benefit from the Protective property trust and in what shares after second death. This ensures that your children from any relationship will always inherit your share of any property held in Joint names. This way everyone is looked after.

 

Discretionary Trust 

This can be useful where you want to leave the choice of final beneficiary to (perhaps) your children – who may or may not need the cash.  They might prefer to pass it direct to their children or even grandchildren.   If a child’s marriage is unstable when you die, the Trustees can lend rather than give the money, so it shouldn’t form part of a divorce settlement.

Flexible Lifetime Interest In Possession Trust Wills in the entire estate 

This is a more advanced version of the Protective Property Trust covering the whole of the deceased persons estate (apart from whatever they give away in their will.) The home would normally be included, but need not be. It is especially useful where the property forms only a part of the value of the estate. In certain circumstances, these can create extra Inheritance Tax Savings.  Probably the biggest advantage is that they create a Family Bank which can go on making loans and grants for as long as 125 years.

Disabled Discretionary Trust clause

Discretionary trusts are set up by parents or other relatives as a way of making long term financial provision for a disabled child. The reason a trust is useful is that assets once put in trust do not belong to either the donor, (known as ‘settlor’ in legal jargon (parents) or the ‘beneficiary’ of the trust (disabled son or daughter who is intended to benefit). This means that the capital held in the trust is not taken into account when assessing entitlement to state benefits like Income Support or local authority obligations to fund care.

 

Nil Rate Band Discretionary Trust

With political uncertainties “banking” the first nil rate band into trust may prove attractive as the facility to transfer an unused nil rate band may not be available in the future.  Assets held within a Nil Rate Band Discretionary Trust may increase in value further than future increases in the nil rate band.  Currently the nil rate band is frozen at £325,000, thus couples with young families may consider a discretionary will trust on the basis that the surviving spouse may re-marry.  A trust allows an individual to ring-fence funds for their own children.