It can be very tempting to think you can sort out family wills and affairs simply and without recourse to legal services or advice. However there are sometimes complex issues thrown up in the course of winding up an estate and it is then that instant legal advice is well worth the fee.
Take the setting up of a family trust – this is the instrument into which assets are held and managed by one person or a handful of people (called the trustees) for the benefit of another person or people. The person providing the assets is called the settlor. The different articles that can be put into a trust would include but not be limited to: cash; property; shares and land. Trusts are generally set up for a number of reasons and these can include: to control and protect family assets; when a beneficiary is too young legally to handle their affairs; when someone is incapacitated and can no longer, or never could, handle their affairs. A trust can also allow assets to pass on when a settlor dies (this requires a will trust); under the inheritance rules, it is used if someone dies without making a will in England and Wales. The settlors decide how the assets in a trust should be used and usually these decisions are laid down in a document called the trust deed. There are myriad other conditions regarding trusts and will trusts – for another time.
