Home Protection Plan

Most wills in the UK are set up so that everything passes to your spouse on the first death. While this is ideal when we are young, is it really such a good idea in later life? What happens if your partner is already in a care home? What if your spouse is still at home but has early dementia? By writing your will in this way, you risk passing everything to a loved one who may be vulnerable or may have lost capacity. This could result in losing all your assets to pay for care.

Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as drafting a new will that leaves your house to the children because your title deeds are likely to include a "survivorship clause"—which overrides any will you have written. This means the surviving spouse inherits the entire home, even if they have no capacity and are already in care.

This can, however, be altered by removing the survivorship clause from the title deeds, thus ensuring you own your house 50/50. Afterward, we can set up a specific form of will trust that ensures, on death, your share of the house passes to the children—with a lifetime guarantee that the surviving spouse can stay in the family home until they die.

Such planning can protect against your share of the house being swallowed up by care costs. It can also protect it from being lost to a new spouse and their children if your surviving spouse re-marries.