I have been approached by a client whose father recently passed away. He has found evidence in his father’s papers of a ‘family protection trust’ which is unsigned. If valid, it settles the family home into the trust. There is evidence in the deceased’s bank statements that he made a payment of c£2500 at the time to a life planning company.
There are two signed and dated ‘removal and replacement of trustees’ signed by the deceased in 2020 - one which appoints 2 directors of NWL Life Planning Limited and one which appoints two directors of Honorato Legal. These companies appear to be linked but the appointed directors in the deeds are not the same for both. It is noted that the second document does not remove the directors of NWL. Both companies are dissolved.
In 2021 the deceased and his wife sold their property and purchased a replacement. The new property is registered in their names only as joint tenants. The deceased’s wife does not recall what they did.
My client is very anxious to ensure everything is in order and no problems arise in the future, even though the property can easily be transferred to his mother’s sole name now. I am making enquiries with the solicitors who acted in the conveyancing transaction in 2021 and requested historical copies of the titles to both properties from HMLR.
I believe I can make a data request to HMRC to see whether the trust was registered.
I would be grateful if anyone has any other recommendations?
Hello Paul, thank you. We had already tried to contact Honorato Legal who are in the process of being struck off. That number has been disconnected but hopefully they will respond to our correspondence.