You have worked hard all your life, saved your money, and hope to have a bit to pass on to your family - but then it is all eaten up by paying for Residential Care Fees! Recent figures show that this affects roughly 1 in 3 couples, and the figures seem to keep rising.

Yet for less than the cost of 1 week’s care fees you can create Wills which greatly reduce the problem.

How does it work?

As a couple (married or not) you can arrange your Wills to protect at least some of your assets against the fees. Rather than leaving everything to each other, you leave your share of assets to an Asset Protection Trust. The particular terms of the Trust will be specific to your instructions, but usually they allow your widow(er) to have the use of the assets - most typically it allows them to carry on living in your share of the family home just as if they owned the whole property. Normally this includes being able to sell the house and buy a replacement in the usual way.

However, if the house is simply sold then your widow(er) can only use their half of the money as they wish - such as to spend it, give it to their new spouse/partner or indeed to pay for their own long term care. Your half of the money is still owned by the Trust, protected according to the terms you specified and typically letting it be passed on to your family.

This is becoming increasingly common practice, and we can organise this for you. We also check the details of how your house is owned, in case Severance of Tenancy is required to make your Wills effective.