Protecting your children’s inheritance with a Life Interest Will Trust | Winston Solicitors Skip to main content
Set up a Life Interest Will Trust to protect inheritance
Advice

Protecting your children’s inheritance with a Life Interest Will Trust

Monika Volsing Monika Volsing
2 min read

Have you thought about protecting your children's inheritance? You may question why you may need to, but certain life events may mean that your children miss out on the inheritance you intend to pass to them.

A Life Interest Will Trust is a type of Trust which is becoming increasingly popular, as it can be used to shield a share of your home from long term care fees.

Typically, a property is held by couples as Joint Tenants which means that on the death of one of them the property passes automatically by rules of survivorship to the other. If the survivor subsequently enters into long term care, the property may have to be sold and the proceeds used to pay care home fees, thus depriving your children of their inheritance.

However, by seeking an expert Wills and Trusts solicitor you can take steps to ensure that the family home is held as Tenants in Common and by creating in your Will a Life Interest Trust, you can protect a share (usually 50%) of the family home as an inheritance for your children.

When both parties die or the surviving spouse enters into a care home, the share of the property held on Trust passes to the children.

The Life Interest Trust is also tax efficient as this type of Trust benefits from the spousal exemption from inheritance tax.

A Life Interest Trust has other uses as well. It is particularly popular on second marriages, as it can be used to provide security for your husband/wife whilst at the same time protecting the inheritance for your children of the first marriage.

If you would like to set up a Life Interest Trust or just discuss your position, please contact our Wills and Probate Team on 0113 320 5000 for expert advice.

Client feedback

Having used Winston Solicitors twice, once for the sale of a house and also for Probate. Both experiences were very good, and will be using again when the need arises.
Mike
We have created our WIlls and Power of Attorney with the assistance of Emily Spencer at Winstons. Great service with everthing clearly and considerately explained and executed with us. Would thoroughly recommend Emily & Winstons to anyone seeking this type of assistance.
Suzannah
The service was excellent would definable recommend to friends and family
Sheila
We had our Wills updated and redrafted very recently. We received a really good service from Emily. She gave us very good advice, was extremly communicative and responsive and enabled us to get the Wills we wanted.
Anonymous
I used Winston Solicitors and was assigned Emily Spencer as my solicitor for assisting with making a will. I found the process easy and Emily was helpful with advice and guidance. I would definitely recommend using this firm for any legal issues.
Anonymous
Thank you very much to Emily at Winston Solicitors for drawing up my will. Emily went through each section of the will, sent me a list of points to consider and answered all of my questions which I found very helpful for making my will.
Jacqueline
Been using Winston Solicitors for many years for divorce and Wills. Always good service and advice and pleasant disposition.
David
I have been very satisfied with the work done for me by Winston Solicitors. Everything was clearly explained and discussed at every stage of the process, with patience and efficiency.
Rosemary
Contact Monika