A lifetime trust is simply a different way of owning assets. Typically, people put their properties in lifetime trusts but you can put in anything you can own, including money, boats and cars.

This different method of ownership is why lifetime trusts are so useful. Instead of owning assets in your own name, they are instead owned by the trustees. You can be a trustee yourself if you wish and you can choose the other trustees, allowing you to retain control.

This can be useful if you don’t want to own assets in your own name during your lifetime. It’s well known that cash-strapped local UK councils sometimes sell people’s homes to recoup care fees. But if you don’t own your house in your own name, in theory you could avoid it being considered as part of a means assessment.

You need to be careful, however. It is certainly not guaranteed that Trusts will protect your assets from care fees. Indeed, if a local council thinks that there was a foreseeable need for care in your case, it can take the fees anyway. This principle is known as “deliberate deprivation”.

So the key to this type of planning is to set it up well in advance, ideally when you are middle-aged and in good health.
 
There are benefits to Lifetime Trusts after you die too. If you only have a basic will, your family will have to wait months, or even years, for a grant of probate before they can sell your house. Property in Trust does not need to go through probate – it can be sold straight away.
 
Part of the complexity of Lifetime Trusts is the implications for inheritance tax. Many Lifetime Trusts (at the cheaper end of the market) are subject to ongoing charges every 10 years, as well as charges when you put assets in and take them out.
 
We offer trusts that aren’t subject to these charges. Our trusts also give your trustees the ability to make the most of the available inheritance tax allowances to reduce the inheritance tax liability.
 
Lifetime trust wills set up by you can also help your adult children who are doing well in life. Inheriting from you would swell their own estates and give their own children an inheritance tax headache. Lifetime Trusts can avoid this because they would not inherit assets outright.
 
Children who live outside the UK are also subject to additional inheritance tax levied by the countries they live in, depending on the country. A Lifetime Trust allows them to pick and choose the best time to receive their inheritance from the trustees.
 
Contact Us
To find out more about our lifetime trust services and how one of our local experts can help you, feel free to get in touch.
 
Call us on 0117 440 155 or email info@maplebrookwills.co.uk