Trust Fund via a Solicitor

[White25]

I was told the best way to leave your property to a disabled son or daughter, was to set up a trust fund via a solicitor, so when we are no longer around the solicitor will be in charge of the money from our estate and will give money to our daughter as instructions. We were told the solicitor will take a percentage of this money. Do you think this is a good, is there any other way we can do this please.

[Magnavoce]

Any Trust set up will mean expenses. Initially to talk to the adviser, explain your needs and have them come up with the appropriately worded 'instrument'. Then get it registered and finally for you to fund it.

Getting it right is paramount (in my view).

The Mencap videos/sessions are an excellent starting point.

[Mencap-Wills-Trusts Expert]

Hello White25

Our recommendation is that you always speak to friends and family first when thinking who your trustees are going to be. Firstly, friends and family will not charge a fee. Secondly, You want someone who is going to be familiar with the needs of your loved one and someone you know you can trust implicitly.

Solicitors tend to charge a fee for being trustee and it will be the solicitor that acts as trustee, not the firm, so you could have added issue of solicitors coming and going from firm to firm and thus not really knowing the needs of your loved one - something to consider and really think about when choosing your trustees.

An alternative route could be using a professional trust company, it could be a good option to consider if you think the responsibility of running a trust fund would too much for family and friends and trust companies are likely to be here long into the future.

The Mencap Trust company specialise in running trust funds for people with autism and learning disability - I would consider visiting their site and potentially making contact with them if it's something you'd like to consider? mencaptrust.org.uk You can read about how they operate and what's involved if you consider using them.

I would also suggest you attend one of Mencap's free planning for the future webinars, we discuss this topic in great details and the Mencap Trust Company always attend these to speak to families about their services. You can book your places for free via mencap.org.uk/willsandtrusts

If you are at the beginning stages of this process, I'd strong recommend you attend.

Many thanks.

[White25 in reply to Mencap-Wills-Trusts]

Hi where are the webinars taking place please, is it on line.

[Mencap-Wills-Trusts Expert in reply to White25]

Hu White25 ,

Yes our free Planning for the Future webinars are online via Zoom. When you sign up to book your free place, you will be sent the Zoom link. On the day of the webinar, just click the link and it will take you into the webinar.

You can view our upcoming webinar dates and book your free place at: mencap.org.uk/willsandtrusts.

Thanks!

[DrSarahmac in reply to Mencap-Wills-Trusts]

Yes I’d agree this is a great place to start. It gave us the information we needed to start making decisions. It also introduced us (via a legal presentation ) to a firm of solicitors that we eventually decided to go with. It’s such a relief to have something in place.

[CareBlogBlue]

You could find at least 2 trusted younger family members or friends to take on the role of Trustee's. They can claim expenses but will be doing it as a goodwill. I have done this and it seems to be working fine. They can ask advice from a solicitor when required, so some money must be set aside for this eventuality. This is the difficult bit, because Trustee Accounts are not easy to find.

[Charlie2750 Community friend]

My wife and I made mirror wills and provision for a trust for 2 sons. We did this through a solicitor in the first place a few years ago .I asked a few months of the solicitor about opening a bank account to put money into the trust but he advised that not to do that now because it will incur fees.

I thought at first there would be 2 trusts but I now realize that you only need one trust fund.

The idea of a trust and you probably know this, is that the money or assets are not your daughters which means that it should not affect her benefits!( however I believe someone will comment that Benefits officer in the future will get around this) You will also write a letter of wishes so that you can include how you would like money spent.eg a holiday or new tv or vets bill?

I know I need to correct mine. I was going to Mencap and am sure they are good but there is an amount of money to spend to get it set up.

Good luck and I will myself keep looking at this very helpful forum to make sure we get it right(I am not sure what and how to look after my son when I am no longer here but that is something I am going to ask later)

[CareBlogBlue]

Solicitors fees are quite high. Could you appoint Trustees, younger family members say?

[White25]

No younger family members, my daughter has a lot of younger cousins, but who knows they could immigrate to Australia, how would you go about appointing trustees, would you not have to go through a solicitor for that or not, I would want it done legally.

[Bluey203]

Hi white25, you could use Mencap trust company, if there are no friends or family to become trustees, mencap become the sole trustee and manage everything including investing the funds - mencaptrust.org.uk/how-do-t...

think renaissance legal also do discretionary trusts, but not sure how theirs works or if they invest the funds .

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