Life Interest Trusts

Life interest Trusts

A Life Interest Trust gives a beneficiary the right to income only from assets held in trust for their life time. This beneficiary is commonly known as the Life Tenant. The Life Tenant does not receive any of the capital from the Trust. The very purpose of a life interest trust is often to ensure that the capital is preserved for a separate intended beneficiary or beneficiaries after the death of the Life Tenant.

Life Interest Trusts are commonly used:-

for capital protection in second marriages where a person wishes to ultimately benefit the children from a previous relationship.
to delay the age at which your child inherits, often to age 21 or 25, but wish to give some income to your child when they reach 18.
to create a trust over the house that you live in, in order to preserve relief from capital gains tax on the property (Principal Private Residence Relief).

You can be more detailed in how you would like the trust to work, for example:

It is also possible to give the trustees additional powers to be able to pass capital assets to the life tenant or any other specified beneficiary
Where there is residue property you can specify that if the life tenant wishes to move that they have the power to require the Trustees to sell the Property and purchase another for the Life Tenant to live in.
You can specify how you would like the Trustees to invest any money held by the Trust.

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