Can You Avoid Care Home Fees with a Trust?

Yes, you can potentially avoid or reduce care home fees in the UK using a trust—but only if it’s done lawfully and well in advance. With weekly care costs often exceeding £1,000, it’s no surprise families want to protect their homes and savings. A trust can help, but only when it meets legal guidelines.

This guide explains how trusts work, the rules around deprivation of assets, and how to protect your estate the right way. For more detail, visit our page on Care Fees Protection.

How Are Care Fees Assessed in the UK?

When someone enters a care home, their local authority carries out a means test. In England, if your capital exceeds £23,250 (2024 threshold), you’ll likely have to pay the full cost yourself.

Your home is included in the assessment unless a spouse or dependent lives there. This is why many people look at using trusts to protect their property from being counted.

What Is a Trust?

A trust is a legal structure where you place assets (like your home) under the care of a trustee. They manage it for the benefit of your chosen beneficiaries. Once placed in a trust, those assets are no longer legally yours—making them harder to include in care fee assessments.

But the law is strict. If the trust was created simply to dodge care fees, the council may still treat those assets as yours. This is called deliberate deprivation of assets.

Types of Trusts for Care Fee Protection

Here are the most common trusts used to protect assets from care costs:

• Protective Property Trust: Usually included in a will. It protects your half of the home if your spouse survives you.
• Life Interest Trust: Lets someone live in or benefit from an asset for life, while protecting the value for others.
• Discretionary Trust: Offers maximum flexibility. Trustees decide how and when to distribute assets.
• Lifetime Asset Protection Trust: Created while you’re alive to place property into trust. Offers protection if not done solely to avoid fees.

Explore more on our Care Fees Protection page.

What Is Deliberate Deprivation of Assets?

If a council believes you created a trust only to avoid care fees, it may treat the assets as if they’re still yours. This is called deliberate deprivation.

Examples include:

• Giving away your home after receiving a care diagnosis
• Transferring property into trust while continuing to live in it rent-free
• Creating a trust with no estate planning purpose other than reducing care liability

If the trust was set up years in advance and as part of wider planning (e.g. avoiding probate, protecting inheritance), it’s more likely to hold up under scrutiny.

How a Trust Can Protect You Legally

Used correctly, trusts can protect part of your estate. For example:

• In a Protective Property Trust: When one spouse dies, their share of the home is held in trust for children. The surviving partner keeps the right to live there—but their estate is smaller for future assessments.
• With a Lifetime Trust: If set up early, it can protect your assets from being counted—provided it wasn’t created purely to avoid care costs.

Timing is everything. Trusts made when you’re healthy and independent are harder to challenge than those created after care needs arise.

Real-Life Example

Mr. and Mrs. Adams owned a £300,000 home. Concerned about care fees, they included a Protective Property Trust in their wills. When Mr. Adams passed away, his half of the property went into trust. Mrs. Adams continued living in the house. Later, when she needed care, only her half was counted in the means test. The other half was protected for their children.

This kind of planning—done early and with legal advice—can help preserve family wealth without breaking the rules.

Get Expert Advice Before Setting Up a Trust

Trusts can be powerful—but they’re also complex. A poorly written trust may be ignored by the council or fail to protect what you intended. At MP Estate Planning UK®, we help you:

• Choose the right trust for your goals
• Set it up properly and legally
• Make sure it can’t be challenged as deliberate deprivation
• Protect your estate while keeping control

Book a free consultation or view our transparent pricing to see what’s right for you.

Conclusion: Can You Avoid Care Home Fees with a Trust?

Can you avoid care home fees with a trust? Possibly—but only if the trust is created for the right reasons, set up early, and structured correctly. Done properly, it can be a smart part of your estate plan.

But trusts aren’t one-size-fits-all. Mistakes can be costly, and rules around deprivation are strict. That’s why it’s essential to get expert help before making any decisions.

Talk to an expert today to protect your family’s future the right way.