Property Protection

Is your share of your home protected?

If you own your home jointly and leave everything to each other, your share passes to your partner absolutely. From that moment it is theirs to leave to whomever they choose. If they remarry, your share can end up with another family entirely. This is often called sideways disinheritance, and a basic Will cannot prevent it.

How a Protective Will Trust works

Also known as a life interest will trust, or an Immediate Post-Death Interest. Married couples and civil partners who own their home jointly convert that ownership to tenants in common, so each half is owned independently. We prepare the severance; you lodge it, and there is no Land Registry fee.

When the time comes, the deceased partner’s share passes to the Trust rather than to the surviving partner, who keeps the right to occupy the property for the rest of their life. Your surviving partner can go on living there, and can move house, with your share following into the new property.

• Your share is preserved for the beneficiaries you chose, usually your own children.
• Your partner is secure in the home for life.
• Remarriage cannot redirect your half of the value.

And if care is ever needed

Your half is held by the Trust rather than owned by your surviving partner, so it is not theirs to be assessed. Where a local authority looks at your partner’s means, only their own share of the property is in that assessment.

This is not a scheme to dodge care fees, and we would not present it as one — but it is a meaningful difference in how your share is treated. If avoiding care charges is your main reason for asking, see Care Fees Planning, where we set out what the rules actually allow.

What it does not do

• It does not reduce inheritance tax. Spouse exemption and the residence nil-rate band are handled separately, and we will explain how yours work.
• It does not put your share beyond a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.
• It takes effect on death. It is not a lifetime transfer of your home.

Protective Will Trusts start at £895 for one person and £1,295 for a couple, and the Mutual Severance of Tenancy is £145. Full detail on our prices page.