Leaving money to someone isn’t always as simple as naming them in your Will. What if they’re too young to manage it? What if they’re vulnerable, or receiving benefits that a lump sum would put at risk? What if you want to provide for your partner, but make certain your children eventually inherit?
A trust answers questions like these. It lets you pass on assets while keeping some control over when and how they’re used — and for the right circumstances, it’s one of the most effective forms of protection available.
Our trust solicitors will help you work out whether a trust suits your situation, and make sure it’s drafted precisely enough to do what you intend. If it isn’t the right answer, we’ll tell you that too.
My Solicitor did everything we asked her to do. She was always available to answer any questions we needed answering and was clear and spoke to my mum (78) in a way she could understand. She was very patient and accommodating.
Start with a conversation, not a decision
Trusts are the area of Private Client work people find hardest to get their head around, and there’s no expectation that you’ll arrive knowing what you want.
Tell us about your circumstances and the person you’re trying to protect, and we’ll explain in plain English whether a trust would help — and what the alternatives are.
Call us on 020 3440 8000, email privateclient@tvedwards.com or contact us online.
What Is a Trust?
A trust is a legal arrangement where one group of people looks after money or assets for the benefit of another.
There are three roles:
- The person who sets it up, deciding what goes into the trust and how it should be used.
- The trustees — one or more people you appoint, who control the trust property and are legally responsible for managing it.
- The beneficiaries — the person or people the trust exists to benefit.
The trust property might be a sum of money, a share of a house, investments, or a specific asset. Whatever it is, the trustees hold it and use it for the beneficiaries in the way the trust document sets out.
The essential point is this: a trust separates who controls the asset from who benefits from it. That separation is what makes it useful.
Why Might You Want to Set Up a Trust?
There are several reasons you may want to create a trust. These are the situations we’re asked about most.
Providing for Someone Who Cannot Manage Money
Some people, through disability, illness, addiction or simple inexperience, would struggle with a large sum arriving all at once. A trust means they’re provided for without being handed money they can’t manage — the trustees look after it and use it for their benefit.
Protecting Means-Tested Benefits
This is one of the most valuable uses of a trust, and one families often discover too late. If someone receives means-tested benefits or funded care, a direct inheritance can reduce or remove that entitlement — sometimes leaving them worse off overall. Holding the funds in trust can allow them to benefit without the inheritance being counted against them in the same way.
If this applies to someone in your family, it’s worth taking advice before making or updating your Will.
Controlling When Children Inherit
You may be comfortable with your children inheriting eventually, but not at 18. A trust lets you set a later age, or give trustees discretion to release funds when it’s sensible — for education, a first home, or starting a business.
Providing for a Second Family
Where you want your partner to be looked after for the rest of their life, but want to be certain your own children ultimately inherit, a trust can achieve both. This is a common arrangement in blended families, and one where getting the structure right genuinely matters.
Making Sure Funds Are Used for a Particular Purpose
Sometimes you want money used for something specific — school fees, care costs, keeping a property in the family. A trust allows you to direct that, rather than hoping your wishes are followed.
Trusts Created in Your Will
The most common way to create a trust is within your Will, so it comes into effect after your death.
You decide what goes into it, who the trustees will be, who benefits, and on what terms. Until then, nothing changes — the assets remain yours to use as you wish, and you can alter the arrangement at any time by updating your Will.
We have trust experts within our Private Client team who are experienced in creating trusts within Wills, and we’ll build the trust into your Will as part of the same piece of work. If you don’t yet have a Will in place, our Will writing solicitors can prepare both together.
Trusts Set Up During Your Lifetime
It’s also possible to place assets into trust while you’re alive, rather than waiting until death. The considerations are different, particularly around tax and around giving up control of an asset. If you’re thinking along these lines, speak to us and we’ll explain how it would work in your circumstances.
Choosing Your Trustees
Your trustees carry real responsibility, sometimes for many years, so this decision deserves care.
Look for people who are:
- trustworthy and financially sensible — they’ll be managing money that isn’t theirs;
- likely to be around for the lifetime of the trust, which may be decades;
- willing to act, and clear about what they’re taking on;
- able to be even-handed, particularly where beneficiaries have competing interests.
Most people appoint two or more. It’s common for trustees to be the same people as your executors, and a trustee can also be a beneficiary — though where that’s the case, the potential for conflict needs thinking through carefully.
We’ll talk you through who to appoint, how many, and what powers they should have.
Why Precise Wording Matters
This is the part that decides whether a trust works.
When setting up a trust, it is paramount that the wording is clear and precise — so there is no confusion about who the beneficiaries are, what the trust property is, and how it is to be used.
Vague or contradictory wording causes real problems. Trustees who can’t tell what they’re allowed to do become paralysed. Beneficiaries who believe they were meant to receive more start asking questions. And a trust that’s genuinely ambiguous may end up being interpreted by a court — at the expense of the very fund it was meant to protect.
This is why trusts are one of the areas where professional drafting earns its cost several times over. If a dispute has already arisen over a trust or an estate, our contested probate solicitors can advise.
What Trustees Are Responsible For
If you’ve been appointed as a trustee, you may be wondering what you’ve agreed to. In broad terms, trustees must:
- act in the beneficiaries’ best interests, not their own;
- follow the terms of the trust, exercising any discretion properly;
- look after the trust property, including investing it sensibly where relevant;
- keep proper records and accounts;
- deal with tax and reporting obligations, including registering the trust with HMRC where required;
- treat beneficiaries fairly, particularly where their interests differ.
These are legal duties, and trustees can be held personally responsible for failing to meet them. That isn’t a reason to decline the role — it’s a reason to take advice.
We support trustees throughout the life of a trust, whether that’s ongoing guidance or help with a single decision you’d rather not make alone.
Bringing a Trust to an End
Trusts aren’t always permanent. Circumstances change, a trust may have served its purpose, or it may no longer suit the beneficiaries it was set up for.
Whether a trust can be brought to an end — and who has the power to do it — depends entirely on its terms and on who the beneficiaries are. Sometimes the trust document itself provides for it. Sometimes the beneficiaries can agree between them. Sometimes it isn’t possible without an application to court.
If you’re a trustee or beneficiary wondering whether a trust can be wound up, send us the trust document and we’ll advise on your options.
Related Private Client Services
How Our Trust Solicitors Can Help
When you come to us, we will:
- Start with your situation, not the product. We’ll ask who you’re trying to protect and why, before recommending anything.
- Tell you honestly whether a trust is the answer. Sometimes a straightforward gift, or a well-drafted Will without a trust, does the job perfectly well.
- Recommend the right type of trust for what you’re trying to achieve.
- Draft it precisely, so the beneficiaries, the trust property and the trustees’ powers are all unambiguous.
- Advise on trustees — who to appoint, how many, and what discretion to give them.
- Explain the practical consequences, including the ongoing obligations trustees will carry.
- Support your trustees afterwards, so the people you’ve appointed aren’t left to work it out alone.
Why Choose TV Edwards?
- Genuine trust expertise within a full Private Client team. Specialists in trusts, alongside colleagues covering Wills, probate, estate planning and tax.
- Experience with vulnerable beneficiaries. Including trusts for people receiving means-tested benefits, where the details make all the difference.
- Straight advice about whether you need one. We don’t recommend trusts by default, and we’ll say so when a simpler route works better.
- Precise, careful drafting. The thing that determines whether a trust does what you intended.
- Ongoing support for trustees, not just help at the point of creation.
- Legal 500 recognised. Part of a long-established London firm independently recognised for acting in clients’ best interests.
- Plain English throughout. Trusts are difficult enough without the jargon.
Contact Our Solicitors Today
Trust FAQs
Is a trust right for me?
It depends entirely on what you’re trying to achieve. Trusts tend to be most useful where a beneficiary is young, vulnerable, unable to manage money, or receiving means-tested benefits that a direct inheritance would affect — or where you want to provide for a partner while making certain your children ultimately inherit. They’re less likely to be necessary where your wishes are straightforward and your beneficiaries are capable adults. A trust also brings ongoing responsibilities for your trustees, which is a genuine factor to weigh. The honest answer is that it’s a question best settled in a short conversation about your circumstances, and we’re happy to tell you if a trust isn’t needed.
Are there tax benefits to using a trust?
Trusts are best thought of as a way of protecting and controlling assets rather than as a tax-saving device. They have their own distinct tax treatment, which can be complex, and depending on how a trust is structured it may attract charges that wouldn’t otherwise arise. In some circumstances a trust can form a useful part of wider planning, but the tax position needs looking at specifically rather than assumed. We’ll always explain the likely tax consequences before you commit, and our inheritance tax planning solicitors can advise on how a trust fits into your estate as a whole.
What does a trustee actually have to do?
Trustees hold and manage the trust property for the beneficiaries. In practice that means following the terms of the trust, acting in the beneficiaries’ best interests rather than their own, looking after and where appropriate investing the trust assets, keeping proper accounts, dealing with tax and registration obligations, and being even-handed between beneficiaries. These are legal duties, and a trustee can be held personally responsible for getting them wrong. Most trustees find the role manageable with the right guidance, and we support trustees on an ongoing basis or with individual decisions as they arise.
Can a trust in the Will of someone who has died be brought to an end?
Sometimes, but not always. It depends on the terms of the trust and on the beneficiaries’ circumstances. Some trusts contain provisions allowing them to be wound up. In other cases, if all the beneficiaries are adults with capacity and are between them entitled to the whole of the trust fund, it may be possible for them to agree to bring it to an end. Where beneficiaries are young, unborn or lack capacity, it’s considerably more difficult and may require an application to court. Send us the trust document and we’ll advise on where you stand.
