Prevent sideways disinheritance
If you leave everything to your partner, they could remarry, and your assets may pass to someone else entirely. A Trust preserves your children’s inheritance and ensures your wishes are honoured.
Family & Property Trusts
Will Trusts that keep your family's inheritance safe
Reinforce your wishes with Family and Property Trusts, enabling an extra layer of security and control within your Will.
Award-winning Estate Planning
We were named Estate Planning Firm of the Year – Boutique at the 2025 British Wills and Probate Awards.
We make writing your Will simple!
Planning for your future doesn’t have to be complicated.
1 Arrange an appointment
We’ll take our time to establish the right service for you. You can speak to our consultants online, over the phone, or in person – the choice is yours.
2 We draft your Will
Our team will prepare your documents to your exact wishes, and you’ll have the chance to review everything before anything is finalised.
3 Sign your Will
When you’re happy, you simply sign. We can also store your documents securely, so they’re safe and easy to locate when your loved ones need them.
What our customers say...
Why would I need a Will Trust?
The right Trust depends on your circumstances, but the benefits can be significant.
Control when beneficiaries inherit
You can specify that an inheritance is held in Trust until a beneficiary reaches a certain age, useful if you have young children or grandchildren.
Support vulnerable beneficiaries
Leave clear directions for your Trustees on how to manage an inheritance for beneficiaries who need extra help, and help protect their entitlement to means-tested benefits that a direct inheritance could affect.
Protect your share of the family home
Securing your share of the property in a Trust helps maintain control over what happens to it, including protection against care home fees if your partner loses capacity after you pass.
Secure your partner's right to stay
Your partner can continue living in the property without ever owning it outright. The property passes to your intended beneficiaries in due course, managed by your Trustees in the meantime.
Maintain control beyond your lifetime
A Will Trust lets you set conditions and directions that continue to be followed after you pass, rather than leaving beneficiaries to make decisions without guidance.
What types of Trust do we offer?
We offer a range of Family & Property Trusts to suit different circumstances.
A Property Protection Trust may be suitable if you want to protect the value of your share of the family home against care home fees, a surviving partner entering a new relationship, or children from a previous relationship missing out on their inheritance.
Most couples own their home as Joint Tenants, meaning the property passes entirely to the survivor. Whilst this can feel like the natural choice, it does carry risks. If the survivor later requires long-term care, the full property value may be taken into consideration. Should they enter a new relationship, their new partner could make a claim against the property, and they may also change their Will, potentially disinheriting children from an earlier relationship.
An alternative is to own the property as Tenants in Common, where each person owns a defined share. This allows you to place your share into a Property Protection Trust, protecting it for your chosen beneficiaries without adversely affecting your surviving partner.
A Right to Occupy Trust may be suitable if you solely own your property and want a partner, adult child, or anyone else living there to continue doing so after you pass.
You can specify in your Will that a person of your choice has the right to reside in the property for a period you define, for example, for the rest of their life, until they remarry or cohabit, or until you wish your beneficiaries to inherit. They can even be permitted to move to another property. At no point will they own the home, it remains managed by your Trustees and ultimately passes to your chosen beneficiaries.
A Discretionary Trust may be suitable if you are unsure who you want to inherit, or if you want to give your Trustees the flexibility to decide. You can appoint a group of potential beneficiaries and leave your Trustees to determine who inherits, how much, and when, allowing them to respond to changing or unforeseen circumstances.
If you still want to guide your Trustees, this is typically done through a Letter of Wishes alongside your Will. A Letter of Wishes sets out your preferences for how assets should be distributed, though your Trustees are not legally bound to follow it.
A Flexible Life Interest Trust combines elements of a Property Protection Trust and a Discretionary Trust, offering greater protection and flexibility for couples with more complex estate-planning needs.
Like a Property Protection Trust, it can secure your share of the family home for your chosen beneficiaries. Like a Discretionary Trust, it gives your Trustees the flexibility to respond to changing circumstances and distribute assets appropriately over time.
The FLIT is offered as part of our Legacy Management Plan.
A Vulnerable Person or Disability Trust may be suitable if you have a beneficiary for whom receiving a direct inheritance could cause disadvantage or harm.
If a beneficiary receives means-tested benefits, a direct inheritance could push their assets above the eligibility threshold, requiring them to spend it down before reapplying. If a beneficiary struggles with addiction, a lump sum inheritance could be detrimental to their wellbeing.
In either case, rather than inheriting directly, their share is placed into a Vulnerable Person or Disability Trust. Your chosen Trustees then manage the funds on their behalf, ensuring the inheritance is used appropriately and in their best interests.
Will Trust or Lifetime Trust?
Compare the different levels of protection and decide which is right for you.
Property Protection Trust
A straightforward and affordable way to protect your estate. Protection comes into effect through your Will.
Ideal for
- Protecting your share of the family home
- Ensuring a surviving partner can remain in the home while ringfencing your share
- Preventing sideways disinheritance without making changes during your lifetime
Lifetime Discretionary Trusts
A higher level of protection, but a more involved process. Lifetime Trusts take longer to set up, but are effective immediately.
Ideal for
- Protecting the entire family home
- Acting now, rather than waiting for your Will to take effect
- Receiving ongoing Trustee support throughout your lifetime
Your questions answered
A Will Trust, also known as a Testamentary Trust, is a legal arrangement within your Will where Trustees are made responsible for property or assets on behalf of your beneficiaries. This type of Trust takes effect when you pass away and can provide extra protection for your loved ones.
A Trustee is an individual entrusted with the control and administration of property or assets held in a Trust, with the legal duty to manage it for the specified purposes.
Unlike Joint Tenancy, where both parties own the entire property equally, Tenants in Common means each owner holds a defined share, usually 50/50. Your share does not automatically pass to the other owner; instead, it can be distributed through your Will.
To set up a Property Protection Trust, we use a Deed of Severance to convert your ownership to Tenants in Common. This can be done without requiring agreement from the other owner.
Your Trustees can be the same people as your executors, and you should have at least two, but you can have up to four.
Almost anyone. Your partner, children, relatives, friends, and even charities can all be named as beneficiaries or Trustees. A Trustee can also be a beneficiary.
The Settlor is the person putting assets into the Trust.
Get in touch
We’re here to help you put the right plans in place for the future.
For support with Wills, Trusts, LPAs or Probate, leave us a message and we will get back to you as soon as possible.