Help Make Sure Your Share of the Home Eventually Reaches the People You Choose
For many families, the home is the largest inheritance they will ever leave.
You may want your husband, wife or partner to be secure for the rest of their life — but ultimately want your children, grandchildren or perhaps a charity to benefit from what you have worked for.
An ordinary Will often leaves everything outright to the surviving partner.
That may be absolutely fine.
But it can also mean that after the first death, the person who died has very little control over where their share of the property eventually goes.
Circumstances can change. The survivor may remarry, change their Will, enter a new relationship, experience financial difficulties or simply decide to leave their estate differently.
A Homeowner Protection Will provides another option.
It can protect your interest in the home for the people you ultimately choose, while still allowing your surviving partner to remain secure.
Protect the survivor today — and your beneficiaries for tomorrow.
[Find Out If It’s Right for You]
[How Homeowner Protection Wills Work]
You Don’t Need to Know Which Trust You Need
Most people don’t.
You simply need to know what you want to achieve.
For example:
- I want my partner to be able to stay in the house.
- I want my children eventually to inherit my share.
- I have children from an earlier relationship.
- I’m worried about what could happen if my spouse remarries after I die.
- I don’t want everything I’ve built up simply becoming part of somebody else’s estate.
You tell me what you want to happen. My job is to explain the most appropriate way of achieving it.
Sometimes an ordinary Will is perfectly adequate.
If it is, I will tell you.
Could Your Home Eventually Pass to Someone You Never Intended?
Many couples make mirror Wills saying:
“Everything to each other, and then to the children.”
It sounds as though the children’s inheritance has been settled.
Usually, it hasn’t.
Once the first person dies and leaves everything outright to the survivor, those assets normally belong to the survivor.
They can subsequently change their Will. They may remarry. Their family or financial circumstances may alter dramatically.
A Homeowner Protection Will can separate the two objectives:
The survivor remains protected.
The first person’s chosen inheritance remains protected for their ultimate beneficiaries.
How Does a Homeowner Protection Will Work?
A typical arrangement works like this:
1. We check how your property is owned
Couples will normally need identifiable shares in the property, usually as tenants in common.
Don’t worry if you have no idea whether you are joint tenants or tenants in common.
We check.
Where a change is appropriate, we deal with the necessary Land Registry arrangements as part of the service.
2. Your Will protects your share
When the first person dies, their interest in the property passes into the Will trust rather than simply passing outright to the survivor.
3. The survivor remains secure
The surviving husband, wife or partner can normally continue living in the home.
A properly drafted trust can also provide flexibility if they later want to sell, downsize or move somewhere else.
4. Your protected inheritance ultimately goes where you intended
When the survivor’s rights eventually end, your protected share passes according to your Will — perhaps to children, grandchildren, other relatives or a charity.
[See a Simple Example]
Who Should Consider a Homeowner Protection Will?
They can be particularly worth considering if:
- you own your home;
- you want your partner to remain secure after your death;
- you ultimately want children or grandchildren to benefit;
- either of you has children from a previous relationship;
- you are in a second marriage or blended family;
- you are concerned about remarriage after the first death;
- you want greater control over where your share of the home ultimately goes;
- or you simply want to understand whether ordinary mirror Wills give you enough protection.
They are not right for everybody.
More complicated does not automatically mean better.
Particularly Important for Blended Families
Suppose you have children from an earlier relationship.
You want your new husband or wife to be secure if you die first.
But you also want the inheritance you built up before or during your relationship ultimately to reach your children.
Leaving everything outright to the survivor means relying upon what happens afterwards.
A Homeowner Protection Will can instead provide security for your spouse while preserving your protected share for the beneficiaries you choose.
[Homeowner Protection Wills for Blended Families]
A Complete Homeowner Protection Will Service
This isn’t simply the price of producing two documents.
Where appropriate, the service includes:
- discussing what you actually want to achieve;
- reviewing your family circumstances;
- checking how your property is owned;
- obtaining/checking the Land Registry title;
- arranging the appropriate ownership change where required;
- preparing the Homeowner Protection Will and trust provisions;
- explaining the survivor’s rights;
- explaining the trustees’ responsibilities;
- discussing what happens if the survivor moves house;
- explaining the disadvantages and limitations;
- and making sure you understand the arrangement before signing.
Fixed Fee
One person: £497
Couple: £697
You know the cost before proceeding.
If you don’t need this level of protection, I will tell you.
[Find Out If It’s Right for You]
What About Care Fees?
Homeowner Protection Wills are sometimes marketed as though they magically prevent care fees.
They don’t.
A properly structured Will trust can mean that after the first death, the protected share does not simply become the survivor’s outright property.
That may be relevant in some future care circumstances.
But these Wills should never be sold as a guaranteed way of avoiding care costs.
The main reason for making one should be genuine inheritance and family protection.
[Homeowner Protection Wills and Care Fees]
You Keep Control of Your Home While You Are Alive
This is not normally a lifetime property trust.
You are not giving your house away now.
You continue to own your home.
You can sell it.
You can move.
The protective trust is contained within your Will and normally only comes into existence following the first death.
[Homeowner Protection Will vs Lifetime Property Trust]
Straightforward Advice — Without the Jargon
You may hear expressions such as:
life interest, property protection trust, tenants in common, beneficial ownership, trustees and ultimate beneficiaries.
You don’t need to know which arrangement to ask for.
I will explain:
- what the Will actually does;
- what your partner can and cannot do;
- who controls the trust;
- whether the survivor can move;
- what happens if the property is sold;
- who ultimately inherits;
- what happens after the first death;
- and importantly, what the disadvantages are.
You should understand exactly what you are signing.
Is a Homeowner Protection Will Right for You?
Sometimes a straightforward Will is enough.
Sometimes the additional protection can make an enormous difference.
The starting point isn’t choosing a trust.
It is answering two simple questions:
Who do you want to protect after your death?
And who do you ultimately want to inherit what you have worked for?
Tell me the answers and I’ll help you work out the rest.
Homeowner Protection Wills
£497 single | £697 couple
[Get Started]
[Call Steve – 01323 766766]
SEO
SEO Title:
Homeowner Protection Wills | Protect Your Share of Your Home
Meta description: