Trusts and Property: A Best Practice Guide for Declarations of trust and gifting property

As a property practitioner you will be instructed to act by attorneys, deputies, executors or trustees. With the cost-of-living crisis and property prices rising, people seem to be more frequently looking for alternative arrangements when buying a house, and there are more joint owners. A significant proportion of joint purchasers will become embroiled in a dispute over resale, or over the shares in the equity, of the property. A Declaration of Trust is therefore helpful to ensure that everyone gets what they are entitled to in the case of a sale, when there are joint purchasers.

Our panellists discussed trust and probate matters – restrictions on title, identifying beneficial ownership and accounting to the correct beneficiaries in a probate or trust sale.

Speakers included:

• Chair: Philip Askew, Partner, Stone King and Member of the Law Society’s Property Section Advisory Committee
• Sarah Cookson, Director & Solicitor, Switalskis Solicitors and Member of the Law Society’s Property Section Advisory Committee
• Michael Culver, Founder & Managing Director, Culver Law Ltd

The Speakers considered:

• whether you can you act for both parties (even if you act for both on a purchase)
• how ‘binding’ a Declaration of Trust is: stress tests include separation/divorce, rental properties and unequal split of income, and non-standard, complex or unclear trust deeds
• how to vary an existing declaration of trust
• ID – who is your client
• ·and registry requirements
• mental capacity issues
• gifts of property and the technicalities and pitfalls to avoid.

This event took place on 16 November 2023.