Husband and Wife made Wills with a life interest trust over their main residence. Husband died in October 2023 and his 50% share was transferred into the names of the trustees - the wife and two children . The trust was exempt from registration as the legal and beneficial owners were the same as the wife is the life tenant and the children the remainderman. Recently the wife downsized and the conveyancing firm misadvised on the SDLT position and effectively ignored the trust. The new property was purchased in the wife’s sole name. We are now in the process of rectifying the position. No documentation was signed to bring the trust to an end. The trustees signed the TR1 for the old property and the wife signed the new TR1. I am wondering if this has inadvertently created the need to register the trust as the manual talks about the legal owners rather than the trustees and beneficiaries being the same. Currently the legal owner is the wife and not all the trustees. However, when completing the TRS Declaration it asks who the trustees are, which are the same as the beneficiaries.
Not a legally correct answer, but I would be tempted to transfer the property back to the three trustees (as it should be) and treat it as a temporary oversight. Otherwise you will expend a great deal of time registering and deregistering with no gain to anybody.