Will Trust
Protect your assets with a Will Trust
What is a Will Trust?
It is possible to draft a Will so that it includes
a trust of all or part of your estate. If a trust
is established by Will then it only comes into
existence on your death.
A trust set up in this way is often referred to as a ‘Will Trust’. The trust can be over specific assets (e.g. your home) or your entire estate.
Including a trust in your Will provides a huge amount of flexibility going forward and enables the trustees to protect the assets for many generations to come by taking account of any risks or threats to the trust fund as and when they arise.
Benefits of a Will Trust
Protects your share of the estate from any future care fees of your surviving spouse or partner.
Allows the surviving spouse (or other beneficiaries you specify) to use the assets and any property for as long as required.
Protects your beneficiaries’ inheritance from any creditors they may have.
Helps to ensure your beneficiaries do not pay additional inheritance tax on any assets held in trust.
Joint property – severing the joint tenancy
In order for the Will Trust to be effective for property that is held jointly, any ‘joint tenancy’must be split so that the property is held as ‘tenancy in common’. This terminology can be confusing but it essentially means the property should be held in distinct percentages rather than being owned as a whole undivided property.
