Life trust in property

[scarlet24]

Hi, hopefully someone can help and clear up a question I have regarding a life trust.

My uncle owned a property and upon his death he left the property in a trust, to be inherited by myself and 2 other family members. The will stated that his partner has a life interest int he property so she can remain living there after he died.

The will states out who the life tenant is (his partner) and also that the trust period is between my uncles death and the death of his partner, or earlier if she starts living together with someone without either being legally married or in a civil partnership

My uncles partner has now moved into a care home, due to ill health and being unable to cope at home. She has no assets herself so the care home place has been funded by the council. This has all be approved and confirmed by the council after assesment.

My questions is, has the trust period now ended, as my uncles Partner is no longer living at the house and has moved into a care home. We are in the process of selling the house, so once sold will the executors of the will be able to distribute the estate as per the will, or will the funds remain held in trust until my uncles partners death?

[Peridot]

Hi Scarlett24,

It would be helpful to see the full trust clause in the Will as this will usually give an indication if the trust ends upon leaving the property or whether funds should be used until your father's partner's death.

I assume the executor is dealing with the house sale or has the property been signed over to the beneficiaries already?

Does the executor have solicitors acting?

[scarlet24]

The executors are myself and the solicitor who constructed the will with my uncle.

the house has not been sold yet, but is in the process of being sold.

The trust clause is for the property (which shows the address) and have 4 sub points to clarify it:
1.1 - names the life tennant
1.2 - names the property trustees (being the persons who take out the grant of probate)
1.3 - “the trust period” shall mean the period between my uncles death and the death of the life tenant or earlier if she starts living together with someone without either being legally married to them or being their civil partner
1.4 - the trust fund shall mean my uncles property which he owns at the date of his death togethrher with the furniture and contents not otherwise specifically gifted by his will.

2 - the trust fund is given to the property trustees to hold upon the following trusts

3 - the property trustees can use any proceeds from the sale of the property to purchase another property for the benefit of the life tenant on the same trusts.

4 - the property trustees shall permit the life tenant to occupy rent free any property comprised in the trust fund, subject to payment of outgoings.

5 - the property trustees shall hold the capital and income of the trust for (myself - the benificiary)

[Peridot]

Hi again,
Thanks for posting the clause. You mention your uncle and you constructed the Will with a solicitor. Hopefully it was your dad's instructions or do you mean that as executors you have obtained probate so administered the will?

Life interest trusts created under the Will often allow the life tenant to receive income eg from renting the property if they are not selling it and can in some circumstances allow advances of capital (not always though) neither scenario appears to apply here, so it appears that until your dad's partner dies (or she re-married) she has the life interest.

Does she still have capacity and has she been involved in the decision to sell if she does? Is there any likelihood she may come home from the care home. The nature of care homes I suspect not but wanted to check. Not being nosey but her condition is relevant.

I also assume from your post that the property was originally in dad's sole name so his partner did not own a share at any point?

Has the conveyancer raised any issue?

Sorry a couple of things to clarify.

[scarlet24]

My uncle created the will with a solicitor. That solicitor and myself have been named as the executors of the will. The solicitor has applied for the grant of probate. I am also the sole benificiary named in the will.

The decision to move into a care home was made solely by my uncles partner, we were supporting her as well we could to stay in the house but alas her health has meant that it is not possible for her to stay there, this is a decision she made and was supported by her social worker. There is no possibility of her coming out of the care home in the future.

the house was indeed originally in my uncles sole name, his partner has never owned any part of it, and there were not married or in a civil partnership.

[scarlet24]

Sorry, forgot to mention she has been involved in the decision to sell and kept up to date with all developments.

[Peridot]

So sorry, you had said this was about your Uncle's estate. Apologies for the confusion in my post.

As I hinted often the life interest clauses would provide for rental income to be paid to the life tenant but not always. It is reassuring to hear that your Uncle's partner has been very much involved in the process and has capacity to make her own decision on respect of where they live and that social services are also aware and appear to be in agreement with the decision to sell.

Did the solicitor remain executor or did they renounce? I suspect with a life interest trust being set up they remained involved as executor and most likely remain trustees so they will have to be involved in the final decision on what to do with the life interest trust not the property is no longer lived in.

With your Uncle's partner's consent the trust could be ended rather than retaining the funds incase a further property were needed to replace the former home. Have you contacted the solicitor executors?

[scarlet24]

Thanks for your comments, I think that’s how I understood it so good to have someone else on the same page. Will contact the other executors and see if we can get a conclusion. Thanks once again.