We have a client whose elderly parents are disinclined to make wills. As they say in these parts, there’s nowt so queer as folk.
It would be useful to receive one or more informed opinions as to whether our client can settle their contingent interest(s) into a trust.
This would be on the presumption that she would be entitled to a share of assets over £322,000 on the first death and a share of the net assets on the second death.
If this is the case, would she need to execute two deeds - one for each - or could she settle both contingent interests into a single trust?
You are, I suspect, quite correct. I recall that the most obvious example I had seen was of contingent interests in trust, settled into discretionary trusts with a reservation of benefit before 1986. A long career can be two-edged - it all seems very recent at times.
As Paul indicates, the next of kin of a person (X) who is alive cannot possess an interest/estate in the property of X whilst X is alive, only a spes successionis (ie a mere hope of inheriting).
