We are regularly asked this question about Trusts as many families are not sure of the answer. What we say to them is “Why not?”.
Our reason for this response? Simple, you can leave your money and assets to the people that you love, let them use them but help prevent them from losing them. When a beneficiary receives money and assets via a trust they can pretty much do what they like with them, just as if they’ve received them directly via the will, the difference being is that they can’t lose them to anyone that they may owe money to and they cannot be taken into account if they are ever means tested.
The value of the trust never belongs to the beneficiary, so it cannot be lost in a divorce for instance.
Also, a Trust enables you to control money and assets after your death. You can write a letter of wishes that instructs your Trustees what to do with the assets and how you would like your Trust managed after your death. This way, children who are not so good with money can have their inheritance drip fed to them if you’d like or you might want your Trustees to oversee every purchase. All these things are possible.
It is important that you choose your Trustees well, you need to trust them, hence the name, but once that’s done your wishes can be heard from beyond the grave.
If you leave some money to someone or an asset to someone directly by your will then they are free to do what they like with it, they can have it taken from them to pay debts, it can be taken into account in a divorce negotiation, there are so many ways for things to go wrong, so, Why use a Trust? Why not!
