Wills Articles #Trusts

The Discretionary Trust is a common Trust for a Testator to use for their children to ensure that they do not inherit directly from their estate. The reasons for this can vary, for example, protecting assets from potential divorce, drinking or gambling issues, or the testators may wish that their assets are distributed in a particular manner or at certain points in their children’s lives that are outside the capabilities of the Will itself.

Complex families often come with complex requirements to meet their long-term goals, and matters can be made more difficult when each testator has separate goals or concerns in mind. These goals usually revolve around the inheritance the children are to ultimately receive and when they receive it, and in certain cases, if they inherit at all. Using a Life Interest of the Residuary Estate can cater for most family needs for a number of reasons;

Property Protection Trusts (PPTs) are among the most common. They are typically used by couples to ensure that a share of the home will ultimately pass to children while still protecting the surviving spouse's interests.

Couples usually buy a property together as joint tenants, which means they both own the entire property, and the ownership automatically transfers to the surviving owner in case of one owner's death. If you want to gift your share of the home in your Will, you must change the ownership to tenants in common

I was talking with friends and the conversation came around to asking about trusts. So, even though this is oversimplified, I explained it like this.

Useful for a person wishing to grant their surviving spouse the right to reside in their marital home until their passing while ensuring their children or grandchildren inherit their portion of the estate.