Trust Wills

[bungalowbabe72]

Hello
I am new to this Forum but I wondered whether anyone could help me on the subject of Trust Wills.

I am the mother of an adult disabled daughter. Originally I was going to make a simple Will with her as the beneficiary but when I spoke to a solicitor they said it would be better to make a Trust Will. I am a bit hesitant as I don't know anyone who has gone down this track.

I wondered whether someone could let me know if they have dealt with Trust Wills and how reliable they are. Any information would be greatly appreciated as this is giving me sleepless nights.

Many thanks.

[bowlingbun]

I had a son with SLD, now 42. If I make a will with him as a beneficiary, Social Services would take it all under the money went below £23,000. What you need is a "Discretionary Trust" where the trustees have discretion as to how it is spent, then SSD can't touch it!

[William_21071]

Hi,

As BowlingBun says the type of trust needs to be a Discretionary Trust, but more particular a disabled persons discretionary trust (these are treated more fairly tax-wise).

These types of Trust can be set up under a Will. Basically the will says that that you are leaving your Estate in trust for you daughter, to be spent on her welfare and needs by the trustees named in the document. As an aside you want to update the Will if the named Trustees are no longer able / willing to fulfill this role when the time comes. Some people use a professional Trustee (such as a solicitors firm) but then there is a charge for this (and each decision to apply funds etc) which covers the professional fees of the person involved. Therefore, it is sometimes decided that Trustees would be family members that would care for the beneficiary in the event of your death.

There are several law firms that specialise in trusts and planning for vulnerable people. I don't have direct experience of anybody I could recommend but I can assure you it is a very common (and logical) route to go down in cases here your beneficiary needs care and/or help managing their finances.

All the best

[bungalowbabe72]

Hi

Thank you so much for making the Trust Wills thing a bit clearer. At least I can now go armed with this information and feeling not so much in the dark.

Really appreciated.