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tooj | 17:15 Tue 30th Nov 2021 | Film, Media & TV
6 Answers
Re our previous correspondence we are in the process of signing our wills.
We own our house in joint names and have been advised that for the purposes
of the Property Protection Trust contained in each will it is necessary for our property to be registered in our joint names as tenants in common and we should sign a Land Registry SEV
form.
We really would likeconfirmation we are doing the right thing as we have no one else to ask.
Any comments would be welcome as everything is being done by post.
Thank you
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Sorry This should have been on Law, not Media
tooj, if you are paying for advice, why are you asking internet randomers if that advice (again, for which you are paying) is good or not?
If you dont trust the advice you are being given, go to someone else IMO. If the advice really matters, it's worth paying more for
If you're sure that you want to create a will trust, then you do need to become tenants in common (rather than joint tenants, as I assume that you are now).

As joint tenants, neither of you owns any individual share of your house; instead, it's your 'partnership' that owns the whole of the house. When one of you dies, the surviving partner will automatically own the whole of house. (Nothing written into a will can change that because a person can't bequeath what he or she doesn't actually own, as such). So any provision in a will that sought to pass half of the ownership of the property to a trust would simply be invalid.

As tenants in common though, each of you would own half of the property. As such, each of you could choose what should happen to that half of the property upon your death. (You could, for example, leave it to Battersea Dogs' Home if you so chose). You can therefore write a will which places your half of the property into a trust upon your death. Then if the surviving partner needed to go into a care home, that half of the property couldn't be touched to pay for care costs, meaning that it could later be passed on through the trust to your children (or whoever else you've chosen to benefit from the trust once both partners have passed away).

A relevant link:
https://www.which.co.uk/money/wills-and-probate/passing-on-your-money/will-trusts-and-lifetime-trusts-aqmf66w4nu5w
Another relevant link: https://www.thegazette.co.uk/wills-and-probate/content/103433
(It's the 'interest in possession trust' section that applies in your case). Take particular note of the paragraph headed "What are the disadvantages of using a will trust?"
Have you tried Age Concern?
Question Author
Thanks for all the advice you have all given me.

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