Lifetime Trusts
Protect your home, starting now.
Our Estate Allocation Trust places your home into a trust during your lifetime. You carry on living there as before, and it's held for the people you choose when you're gone.
Why people choose a lifetime trust
What it's designed to help with
A Will only takes effect after you die. A lifetime trust is in place from the day it's set up, which is why it can do more.
Probate
Your home is already owned by the trustees, so it can pass to your beneficiaries without waiting for a grant of probate. Anything outside the trust still goes through probate.
Sideways disinheritance
Helps your home reach your children, even if a surviving partner later remarries and makes a new Will.
Claims on your estate
The trust only benefits the people named in it, which can help limit claims from people you didn't intend to provide for.
Later-life vulnerability
Better than giving your home to your children now, which can bring tax bills and leave it exposed to their divorce or debts.
If you lose capacity
Your co-trustees can keep managing your home. You'll still want Lasting Powers of Attorney for everything outside the trust.
Property fraud
With more than one trustee on the title, it's harder for anyone to sell or borrow against your home without the others knowing.
Care fees: a lifetime trust should never be set up to avoid paying for care. If a local authority believes your home was placed in trust for that reason, it can treat it as still yours (known as "deprivation of assets"). What the trust does is keep decisions about your home with your family. We'll explain this fully before you decide.
How it works
From first chat to a registered trust
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Step 1
We talk it through
Your family, your home and your wishes, and whether a lifetime trust really suits you.
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Step 2
The trust is drafted
Acer Prime Law prepares the trust deed, alongside new Wills that work with it.
Usually within 2 weeks -
Step 3
Signing
We explain every document in plain English before you and your trustees sign.
Usually within 4 weeks -
Step 4
Registration
Your home is transferred into the trust at the Land Registry, and the trust is registered with HMRC.
Land Registry forms sent within 1 week
Drafts are sent within 2 weeks of us having all your information, your signed Terms of Engagement and payment. Signing is arranged within 4 weeks of you approving the drafts. Lifetime trusts can take a little longer, and we'll tell you at the start if yours will.
Free first meeting
Could a lifetime trust protect your home?
We’ll look at your circumstances and explain the pros and cons honestly, so you can decide with confidence.
Is it right for me?
Things to be aware of
A lifetime trust is a bigger step than a Will. We'll go through the downsides as carefully as the benefits.
- Your home is owned by the trustees, not by you outright.
- It's only available for homes without a mortgage.
- Trustees have legal duties, and the trust must stay registered with HMRC.
- It costs more to set up than Will trusts.
- Anything you own outside the trust still goes through probate.
- The law can change, so your plan should be reviewed regularly.
Often a good fit if you
- own your home outright
- want your home to pass to your children or grandchildren
- are in a second marriage or a blended family
- would like to spare your family the probate process for your home
Already have Will trusts with us?
Legacy Connect members who upgrade to a lifetime trust get credit for the fees they've already paid for their Wills and Will trusts.
Common questions
Your questions, answered
Can't see yours? Ask us at your free consultation, or call 020 8050 4201.
Can I still sell or move house?
Yes. As a trustee you can decide to sell, and the trust can buy your next home. We'll guide you through it when the time comes.
Do I still need a Will?
Yes. Your Will deals with everything outside the trust, such as savings and belongings. We set up Wills that work alongside your trust.
Who are the trustees?
Usually you, together with people you trust, such as your partner or adult children. We'll help you choose.
Can I gift part of my home to a child who lives with me?
In some families, the trust can be combined with gifting a share of the home to a child who lives there with you. It has tax rules of its own, so we'll only recommend it where it genuinely suits you.
Find out if a lifetime trust suits you.
A no-obligation first meeting, face to face, by video or by telephone, and a fixed fee agreed up front.