Trusts

[pinkjudy45]

What is the advantages of putting a propert into a 'trust'

[Buenchico]

The idea is to avoid (or reduce) Inheritance Tax when the property owner dies. However it's worth remembering that there's no Inheritance Tax to pay anyway if the value of the deceased person's estate is less than £325,000. (If they were pre-deceased by a spouse or civil partner, who left everything to them, they get their spouse's allowance as well, meaning that there's no Inheritance Tax to pay unless the value of the estate exceeds £650,000). So for many people there's probably no point in putting their property into a trust anyway. (Some schemes involving trusts claim to be able to help people avoid the need to use their home to pay care home fees in the event of them requiring such care but many financial advisers have doubts about the validity of such schemes).

You should note that you no longer own a property after you've put it into a trust. It's the trustee (who administers the trust) who then owns it. So if you allow a firm to become the trustee you could be in big trouble if that firm later goes bust, as the house you live in will be counted as part of the firm's assets and could be sold to pay off its creditors. See here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-45829270

This page, from the independent (Government-funded) Money Advice Service, explains more about trusts:
https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/using-a-trust-to-cut-your-inheritance-tax

[woofgang]

May I also suggest that this might be a "wrong end" question?....unless of course its homework.....and a better approach might be to decide what outcome you want to achieve and then to sort out how to achieve that.

[Peter Pedant]

This is more like it

https://www.gov.uk/trusts-taxes/trusts-and-inheritance-tax

and IS a govt site

and this is good as well
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/trusts-and-inheritance-tax

and yes it is complicated as it is a complicated area

(the short answer is that trust as an vehicle to avoid IHT has had its day)

If you seeking to avoid IHT - depending on how much - you should pay for advice ( and not really ask bozos like us). The cost of getting it wrong can be astronomical ( tax charge as an initial charge and then another one ( which does not cancel out ) if you unwind ...)

[Barmaid]

The potential tax savings are getting fewer and fewer.
Avoidance of care home fees will not work if a "significant reason" was to avoid such fees - v fact sensitive.
They can be useful where the inhabitant is vulnerable or reckless and it is necessary for the fund to be protected; or to protect family assets from new spouses. Also useful with co-habitees to define what proportions they own a property together - particularly where unequal contributions.

Before doing anything I suggest you take advice from a trusts specialist.

[pinkjudy45]

Thank you very much all of you for the information, very useful, will go to see a solicitor to get legal advice xxx