Where to Start a Trust Fund: Secure Your Family’s Wealth in the UK

Protecting your family’s wealth doesn’t have to be overwhelming — but it does require the right legal framework. A trust fund is one of the most effective tools in English law for ensuring your assets are managed, protected, and distributed exactly as you intend. England invented trust law over 800 years ago, and it remains one of the most powerful planning mechanisms available to ordinary families today.

By appointing trustees and setting out clear terms in a trust deed, you can have confidence that your family’s wealth is protected from threats like inheritance tax (IHT), care fees, divorce, and probate delays. For a detailed explanation of how trusts work, visit our page on what is a trust fund. Below, we’ll cover everything you need to know about trust funds — including practical trust fund planning tips and how to get started.

Key Takeaways

• Understand what a trust fund is under English and Welsh law and the specific benefits it offers.
• Learn how to appoint trustees who will manage and protect your wealth effectively.
• Discover essential trust fund planning tips tailored to UK inheritance tax rules and care fee thresholds.
• Find out how a trust can protect your family home, bypass probate delays, and shield assets from divorce and creditors.
• Get started with creating a trust fund that fits your family’s circumstances and goals.

What is a Trust Fund?

A trust fund is a legal arrangement — not a separate legal entity — that allows you to transfer ownership of assets to trustees, who then hold and manage those assets for the benefit of your chosen beneficiaries. Trusts have no separate legal personality; the trustees are the legal owners. This is one of the oldest and most established arrangements in English law, providing a structured, flexible way to protect and control your family’s wealth across generations.

Definition and Purpose

A trust is created when a settlor (the person setting up the trust) transfers assets to trustees via a trust deed. The trustees become the legal owners of those assets, but they hold them on behalf of the beneficiaries — not for themselves. The main purposes of a trust include protecting assets from threats such as care fees, divorce, and creditors; ensuring financial security for dependants; managing assets for those who are too young or unable to manage on their own; and controlling how and when wealth is passed to the next generation.

Types of Trust Funds

In England and Wales, trusts are primarily classified by when they take effect (lifetime trust vs will trust) and how they operate. The three main operational types are:

• Discretionary Trusts: By far the most common type (used in around 98–99% of family trusts). Trustees have absolute discretion over how income and capital are distributed among beneficiaries. No beneficiary has a fixed right to anything — and this is precisely what provides the protection. Discretionary trusts can last up to 125 years under the Perpetuities and Accumulations Act 2009.
• Interest in Possession Trusts: A named income beneficiary (the life tenant) receives income or use of the trust property during their lifetime. When their interest ends, the capital passes to the remainderman (capital beneficiary). These are commonly used in will trusts to prevent sideways disinheritance — for example, ensuring a surviving spouse can live in the family home while protecting the children’s ultimate inheritance. Post-March 2006 interest in possession trusts are generally treated as relevant property for IHT purposes, unless they qualify as an immediate post-death interest or a disabled person’s interest.
• Bare Trusts: The beneficiary has an absolute right to both capital and income once they reach age 18. The trustee is merely a nominee with no discretion. Under the principle in Saunders v Vautier, the beneficiary can collapse the trust once they reach majority. Bare trusts offer virtually no asset protection — they are not IHT-efficient and cannot protect against care fees or divorce.

Choosing the right trust type depends on your specific needs and goals. For most families looking to protect the family home or other assets, a discretionary trust is the appropriate choice.

Benefits of Setting Up a Trust Fund

Setting up a trust fund offers several concrete advantages for UK families. It can protect your home and savings from being depleted by care fees, reduce your family’s inheritance tax liability, bypass probate delays so trustees can act immediately, and ensure your assets are distributed exactly as you wish — not according to intestacy rules or a court’s interpretation.

Understanding how trusts work under English and Welsh law helps you make better estate planning decisions. With the IHT nil rate band frozen at £325,000 since 2009 — and confirmed frozen until at least April 2031 — while the average home in England is now worth around £290,000, trusts are no longer just for the wealthy. They’re for the smart.

Why Consider a Trust Fund?

If you own a home, have savings, or want to provide for your family after you’re gone, a trust fund deserves serious consideration. It’s one of the most effective legal arrangements available for managing wealth, reducing tax exposure, and protecting assets from the threats that catch most families off guard.

Setting up a trust fund puts you in control of how your assets are managed and distributed — both during your lifetime and after your death. As Mike Pugh often says: “Not losing the family money provides the greatest peace of mind above all else.”

Protecting Family Wealth

Creating a trust fund is one of the most reliable ways to protect your family’s wealth from the biggest financial threats UK families face. Once assets are properly held in a discretionary trust, they are legally owned by the trustees — not by you or your beneficiaries personally. This distinction is the foundation of protection under English trust law.

• Care fee protection: With residential care costing £1,100–£1,500 per week (and significantly higher in London and the south-east), between 40,000 and 70,000 homes are sold annually to fund care in England. In England, if your capital exceeds £23,250 you’re classed as a self-funder — and care costs continue until your assets are depleted to just £14,250. Assets in a properly structured trust — set up well in advance of any foreseeable need — sit outside your personal estate for local authority means-testing purposes.
• Divorce protection: With the UK divorce rate at around 42%, assets held in trust are not personally owned by the beneficiary. If your child’s marriage breaks down, a discretionary trust means they can truthfully say: “What house? I don’t own a house.”
• Preserving wealth for future generations: Discretionary trusts can last up to 125 years, keeping wealth within the family across multiple generations.

Tax Benefits

Trusts are tax-efficient planning tools — they don’t eliminate tax, but they can significantly reduce your family’s exposure to inheritance tax when structured correctly.

Key tax-planning benefits include:

• IHT reduction: IHT is charged at 40% on the taxable estate above the nil rate band (currently £325,000 per person, frozen since 2009 and confirmed frozen until at least April 2031). Transferring assets into certain trusts can reduce the value of your estate for IHT purposes. For married couples, a combination of both nil rate bands (£650,000) plus the residence nil rate band (£350,000) can shelter up to £1,000,000 — but only if the right planning is in place and the property passes to direct descendants.
• Starting the 7-year clock: For certain trust arrangements, such as a Gifted Property Trust, the transfer can begin the 7-year period after which the value may fall outside your estate entirely for IHT purposes. It’s important to note that transfers into discretionary trusts are chargeable lifetime transfers (CLTs), not potentially exempt transfers (PETs) — but where the value falls within the available nil rate band, no immediate charge arises.
• Capital gains tax planning: Transferring your main residence into trust while you still live there normally qualifies for principal private residence relief, meaning no CGT is payable at the point of transfer. Holdover relief may also be available for other assets transferred into certain trusts.

Ensuring Financial Security for Dependants

Trust funds are particularly valuable for providing long-term financial security to dependants who may not be able to manage assets themselves — whether that’s young children, elderly parents, or a family member with a disability or vulnerability.

By setting out clear terms in the trust deed and providing a letter of wishes to guide the trustees, you can ensure your dependants are provided for in exactly the way you intend — even when you’re no longer here. Trustees can make distributions as and when needed, rather than handing over a lump sum that could be mismanaged, lost to a divorce settlement, or depleted by care costs.

Key Elements of a Trust Fund

Every trust fund is built around three key roles: the settlor, the trustee, and the beneficiary. Understanding what each person does — and choosing the right people for each role — is essential for effective trust fund planning.

The Settlor

The settlor is the person who creates the trust. They decide which assets to place into the trust, set out the terms in the trust deed, appoint the initial trustees, and identify the beneficiaries. The settlor’s role is crucial because their wishes — as expressed in the trust deed and any accompanying letter of wishes — shape how the trust operates for decades to come. Importantly, the settlor can also be one of the trustees, which means they retain day-to-day involvement in how the trust is managed.

The Trustee

The trustees are the legal owners of the trust assets. They manage the trust in accordance with the terms set out in the trust deed and in line with their legal duties. A minimum of two trustees is required. Their responsibilities include:

• Administering and safeguarding the trust assets
• Making distributions to beneficiaries (in a discretionary trust, at their absolute discretion)
• Fulfilling the settlor’s wishes as set out in the trust deed and letter of wishes
• Complying with HMRC reporting requirements, including Trust Registration Service (TRS) filings within 90 days of the trust’s creation and annual trust tax returns (SA900)

The Beneficiary

The beneficiaries are the people (or organisations) who stand to benefit from the trust. They can be family members, friends, or charities. In a discretionary trust — the most common and most protective type — no individual beneficiary has a fixed right to income or capital. This is a feature, not a limitation: it’s precisely what prevents creditors, divorcing spouses, or local authorities from treating those assets as belonging to any one person.

The settlor defines who the potential beneficiaries are (usually described as a class, such as “my children and their descendants”), and the trustees decide when and how to make distributions.

By carefully choosing the right settlor, trustees, and beneficiaries — and documenting everything properly in the trust deed — you create a robust legal arrangement that can protect your family’s wealth for up to 125 years.

Steps to Start a Trust Fund

Setting up a trust fund is a significant step that requires specialist guidance and careful planning. While it’s not something you should attempt on your own, understanding the process will help you make informed decisions at every stage.

Assess Your Financial Situation

The first step in creating a trust fund is to take a clear look at your overall financial position. This means understanding the value of your assets — your home, savings, investments, and any other property — as well as any liabilities such as a mortgage. You need to identify what you want to protect and who you want to protect it for.

This is also the stage to consider the specific threats your estate faces. With the IHT nil rate band frozen at £325,000 since 2009 and the average home in England now worth around £290,000, many ordinary families find themselves exposed to a 40% IHT charge they never anticipated. Add in the risk of care fees (currently £1,100–£1,500 per week), a divorce rate of around 42%, and probate delays that can freeze sole-name assets for 9–18 months, and the case for trust planning becomes very clear. MP Estate Planning’s proprietary Estate Pro AI software provides a 13-point threat analysis to identify exactly where your estate is vulnerable.

Determine the Type of Trust

Once you understand your financial position, the next step is to determine which type of trust is right for your circumstances. In England and Wales, trusts are classified by when they take effect (lifetime trust vs will trust) and how they operate:

A discretionary trust is the most commonly used type for family asset protection. Trustees have absolute discretion over distributions, and no beneficiary has a fixed entitlement — which is precisely what provides protection from care fees, divorce, and creditors. An interest in possession trust is often used in wills to give a surviving spouse the right to live in the family home, with the capital ultimately passing to the children. A bare trust gives the beneficiary an absolute right to the assets at age 18 — it offers very little protection and is not suitable for most estate planning objectives.

The right choice depends on your specific goals. For example, Mike Pugh’s Family Home Protection Trust (Plus) is designed specifically to protect the family home from care fees while retaining IHT reliefs including the residence nil rate band. His Gifted Property Trust is designed to remove 50% or more of the home’s value from the estate while avoiding the gift with reservation of benefit rules and starting the 7-year clock. For buy-to-let or investment properties, a Settlor Excluded Asset Protection Trust may be more appropriate.

Choose the Right Trustee

Choosing the right trustees is one of the most important decisions in the trust fund formation process. The trustees become the legal owners of the trust assets and are responsible for managing them in accordance with the trust deed.

You need a minimum of two trustees. The settlor can — and often should — be one of them, which keeps them involved in day-to-day decisions. The other trustee(s) can be a trusted family member, friend, or professional. Note that the Land Registry allows up to four trustees on a property title. Here are some important considerations:

• Think about the person’s reliability, common sense, and willingness to take on the role long-term.
• Consider whether they understand the responsibilities involved — trustees have legal duties to act in the best interests of the beneficiaries.
• The trust deed should include a clear process for removing and replacing trustees if circumstances change — for example, if a trustee moves abroad, becomes incapacitated, or simply wants to step down.

By following these steps and working with a specialist in trust law — not a general-practice solicitor — you can establish a trust fund that genuinely protects your family’s financial future. As Mike Pugh puts it: “The law — like medicine — is broad. You wouldn’t want your GP doing surgery.”

Legal Requirements for Trusts in the UK

Setting up a trust in England and Wales involves meeting specific legal requirements. Getting these right from the start ensures your trust is valid, enforceable, and compliant with HMRC rules.

Trust Deed Essentials

The trust deed is the foundational legal document that brings your trust into existence. It sets out the terms under which the trustees hold and manage the assets. A properly drafted trust deed must include:

• The names of the settlor, trustees, and the class of beneficiaries
• A clear description of the assets to be held in trust (or the mechanism for transferring them — for example, a TR1 form for unmortgaged property, or a declaration of trust for property with an existing mortgage)
• The powers and duties of the trustees — including any “standard and overriding powers” that give trustees defined flexibility without making the trust revocable
• The rules for distributing income and capital to beneficiaries
• Provisions for appointing, removing, and replacing trustees
• The trust’s maximum duration (up to 125 years under current law)

A well-drafted trust deed is essential — it’s the document that will be scrutinised by HMRC, by the Land Registry if property is involved (along with a Form RX1 restriction on the title), and potentially by a court if there is ever a dispute. This is a key part of the trust fund formation process and should always be handled by a specialist.

Registration and Reporting

All UK express trusts — including bare trusts — must now be registered with HMRC’s Trust Registration Service (TRS) within 90 days of creation. This requirement came into force under the 5th Money Laundering Directive. Importantly, the TRS register is not publicly accessible (unlike Companies House), so your trust details remain private.

You can find more information on registering a trust on the UK government website. Ongoing reporting obligations include:

1. Keeping the TRS registration up to date with accurate details of the trust, trustees, and beneficiaries
2. Filing annual trust tax returns (SA900) with HMRC and paying any income tax, CGT, or periodic charges due
3. Maintaining detailed records of all trust decisions, distributions, and financial transactions

Compliance with UK Law

To keep your trust compliant with UK law, you need to stay informed about any legislative changes that affect trusts — such as the upcoming changes making inherited pensions liable for IHT from April 2027, and the caps on business and agricultural property relief from April 2026 (100% relief will be capped at the first £1 million of combined business and agricultural property, with 50% relief on the excess). You also need to understand the relevant property regime that governs discretionary trusts, including 10-year periodic charges (maximum 6% of the value above the nil rate band) and proportional exit charges.

Working with a specialist in trust law is invaluable here. A general-practice solicitor may not have the depth of knowledge needed to navigate trust taxation and compliance effectively. Following sound trust fund planning tips from a specialist ensures your trust remains valid, tax-efficient, and fit for purpose over the long term.

Costs Involved in Setting Up a Trust Fund

One of the most common concerns families have is cost. The good news is that setting up a trust fund is far more affordable than most people think — especially when you compare it to the costs it’s designed to prevent.

Initial Setup Fees

A straightforward family trust typically costs from around £850, with most trusts falling in the range of £850–£2,000+ depending on complexity. More complex arrangements — for example, trusts involving multiple properties or specialist tax planning — may cost more. MP Estate Planning is the first and only company in the UK that actively publishes all prices on YouTube, so you know exactly what to expect before you commit.

To put that in perspective: the one-off cost of setting up a trust is roughly equivalent to just one or two weeks of residential care (which currently runs at £1,100–£1,500 per week). It’s a one-time fee to protect assets that could otherwise be depleted entirely — care costs don’t stop until the person either passes away or their capital drops below £14,250.

Ongoing Management Costs

Ongoing costs depend on how the trust is structured and managed. If family members act as trustees (which is common — and the settlor can be a trustee), there are no trustee fees. The main ongoing costs are typically accountancy fees for filing the annual trust tax return (SA900) and any Land Registry fees if property transactions are involved.

For more details on transferring assets into a trust, visit our article on how to fund a trust in the UK.

Potential Tax Implications

Trust taxation is an area where specialist advice is essential. Here’s a plain-English summary of the key taxes that may apply:

• Entry charge: When assets are transferred into a discretionary trust, there is a potential 20% charge on the value above the available nil rate band (£325,000). For most families putting their home into trust, the value falls within the nil rate band — so the entry charge is zero. For a married couple using two separate trusts, this effectively doubles to £650,000.
• 10-year periodic charge: A maximum of 6% of the trust’s value above the nil rate band, assessed every 10 years. Again, for family homes below the nil rate band, this is typically zero.
• Exit charge: A proportional charge when assets leave the trust, based on the last periodic charge. If the entry and periodic charges were nil, the exit charge will also be zero. Even at its maximum, the exit charge works out at less than 1% — as Mike Pugh explains, “10% of 6% is 0.6%.”
• Trust income tax: 45% on non-dividend income and 39.35% on dividends (the first £1,000 is taxed at the basic rate).
• Trust CGT: 24% on residential property gains, 20% on other gains, with an annual exempt amount currently at half the individual level (currently £1,500).

When you compare the cost of a trust to the potential costs of care fees, a 40% IHT bill, or a contested probate process, setting up a trust is one of the most cost-effective forms of financial protection available to UK families.

Selecting the Right Trustee

Choosing the right trustees is one of the most important decisions you’ll make when setting up a trust fund. Your trustees become the legal owners of the trust assets and carry significant responsibilities — so this decision deserves careful thought.

Family Members vs. Professional Trustees

Family member trustees are the most common choice for family trusts — and with good reason. They know the family, understand the settlor’s wishes, and typically serve without charging fees. The settlor themselves can (and usually should) be one of the trustees, keeping them involved in all decisions about the trust assets. The other trustee is often a spouse, adult child, or trusted friend.

Professional trustees — such as solicitors or trust companies — bring specialist expertise and impartiality, which can be valuable for larger or more complex trusts. However, they charge ongoing fees, which reduce the trust’s value over time. For most family trusts, family member trustees with a well-drafted trust deed and a clear letter of wishes are entirely sufficient.

Responsibilities of a Trustee

Trustees have legally enforceable duties under English law. These include:

• Acting in the best interests of the beneficiaries at all times
• Managing trust assets prudently and in accordance with the trust deed
• Making distributions to beneficiaries as the trust deed permits (and using their discretion fairly in discretionary trusts)
• Complying with HMRC requirements — including TRS registration within 90 days, annual tax returns (SA900), and any periodic or exit charges under the relevant property regime
• Keeping accurate records of all trust decisions, financial transactions, and correspondence
• Not profiting personally from the trust (unless the trust deed specifically permits trustee remuneration)

Evaluating Trustee Qualifications

When choosing your trustees, consider the following:

1. Trustworthiness and reliability: Above all, you need someone who will honour your wishes and act responsibly — potentially for decades.
2. Common sense and sound judgment: Trustees need to make practical decisions about distributions, property management, and investment.
3. Willingness to serve long-term: A discretionary trust can last up to 125 years. While individual trustees will change over time, the initial trustees should be committed to the role.
4. Understanding of their duties: They don’t need to be legal experts, but they do need to understand the basics of their legal obligations — a good trust specialist will explain this as part of the setup process.

The trust deed should always include a clear mechanism for removing and replacing trustees. Life changes — people move, relationships shift, capacity diminishes — and your trust needs to adapt. By thinking carefully about these factors, you can appoint trustees who will genuinely protect your beneficiaries’ interests for the long term.

Common Misconceptions About Trust Funds

There are several persistent myths about trust funds that stop people from taking action. Let’s address the biggest ones head-on.

Trusts Are Only for the Wealthy

This is perhaps the most damaging myth in estate planning. The reality is that creating a trust fund is relevant for anyone who owns a home — and with the average house price in England now around £290,000, that’s a huge number of families. The IHT nil rate band has been frozen at £325,000 since 2009 and is confirmed frozen until at least April 2031, which means ordinary homeowners are now caught by a tax that was originally designed for the very wealthy. Factor in care fee thresholds — you’re a self-funder if your capital exceeds just £23,250 — and the case for trust planning is even stronger.

As Mike Pugh often says: “Trusts are not just for the rich — they’re for the smart.” Understanding the trust fund formation process can help you decide whether a trust is the right move for your family, regardless of the size of your estate.

Trust Funds Are Difficult to Manage

With the right setup, a family trust is straightforward to manage. Most family discretionary trusts require very little day-to-day administration. The settlor is usually one of the trustees, so they remain in control. The main ongoing obligations are filing the annual trust tax return with HMRC (SA900) and keeping the TRS registration up to date.

A well-drafted trust deed does most of the heavy lifting — it sets out the trustees’ powers, the beneficiaries, and the rules of the trust clearly. A good trust fund setup guide from a specialist will ensure you understand exactly what’s required from day one.

Trusts Can Be Changed or Revoked Easily

This one is nuanced. An irrevocable trust — which is the standard for asset protection and IHT planning — cannot simply be unwound by the settlor once it’s created. This is actually the point: if the settlor could take the assets back at any time, HMRC would rightly treat them as still belonging to the settlor (what’s known as a “settlor-interested trust”), and the trust would provide no IHT benefit, no care fee protection, and no shielding from creditors or divorce.

However, irrevocable does not mean inflexible. Trusts created by specialists like Mike Pugh include “standard and overriding powers” that give trustees defined flexibility — for example, the ability to add or remove beneficiaries, change the terms of distribution, or appoint new trustees. The trust can adapt to changing circumstances without being revocable.

A revocable trust, by contrast, offers essentially no protection. HMRC treats the assets as still belonging to the settlor, which means no IHT benefit, no care fee protection, and no shielding from creditors or divorce. This is why every trust Mike sets up for asset protection purposes is irrevocable.

Trust Fund Management Tips

Effective trust fund management doesn’t require constant attention, but it does require periodic reviews and good communication. Here are the key trust fund planning tips to keep your trust running smoothly.

Regular Reviews and Updates

We recommend reviewing your trust at least once a year — and whenever there’s a significant change in your family circumstances, financial position, or the law. Specific things to check include:

• Whether the trust deed still reflects your current wishes — for example, has a new grandchild been born who should be included as a beneficiary?
• Whether the trustees are still the right people for the role — has anyone moved abroad, become ill, or had a change in circumstances?
• Whether your letter of wishes needs updating to reflect new priorities or family dynamics.
• Whether any legislative changes (such as the upcoming IHT changes to inherited pensions from April 2027, or the BPR/APR caps from April 2026) affect your planning.

Communication with Beneficiaries

Clear communication with beneficiaries helps maintain family harmony and prevents disputes. Here’s what we suggest:

• Let beneficiaries know the trust exists and explain its general purpose — though you don’t need to share every detail of the trust deed.
• Explain that in a discretionary trust, no beneficiary has an automatic right to any particular asset or sum — this manages expectations and is actually a key part of the protection.
• If appropriate, share updates on any significant changes to the trust or its management.
• Be open and willing to answer questions, while maintaining the trustees’ discretion over distribution decisions.

Investment Considerations

If the trust holds cash or investments (rather than just property), the investment strategy should be reviewed periodically. Key considerations include:

• Ensuring the investment approach matches the trust’s objectives — is it focused on capital preservation, income generation, or growth?
• Understanding the tax implications of investment decisions within the trust — trust income is taxed at 45% (or 39.35% for dividends), so tax-efficient investment strategies matter.
• Taking specialist financial advice where needed — particularly for larger trusts or those with complex investment portfolios.

By following these trust fund management tips, you can ensure your trust continues to serve its purpose effectively — protecting your family’s wealth for generations to come. Plan, don’t panic.

How Trust Funds Impact Inheritance

Setting up a trust fund can fundamentally change how your estate is handled when you die — for the better. Trust assets are dealt with outside the normal probate process, which means faster access for your family, greater control over distribution, and significant potential savings on inheritance tax.

Bypassing Probate Delays

One of the most practical advantages of creating a trust fund is that trust assets bypass probate entirely. When someone dies, all assets held in their sole name are frozen until a Grant of Probate (or Letters of Administration if there is no will) is issued — a process that currently takes 3–12 months, and longer if property needs to be sold (often 9–18 months total). During this time, bank accounts are locked, bills can go unpaid, and beneficiaries wait.

Assets held in trust, by contrast, are legally owned by the trustees — not the deceased. This means the trustees can act immediately: they can pay bills, maintain properties, and make distributions to beneficiaries without waiting for any court process. It also means that trust assets remain private — unlike a will, which becomes a public document once the Grant of Probate is issued and anyone can obtain a copy for a small fee.

Reducing Inheritance Tax

Trust funds can play a significant role in reducing your family’s IHT liability. IHT is charged at 40% on the value of your taxable estate above the nil rate band (£325,000 per person, frozen until at least April 2031). A reduced rate of 36% applies if 10% or more of the net estate is left to charity. For a married couple, the combined nil rate band plus residence nil rate band can shelter up to £1,000,000 — but only if the right planning is in place and the property passes to direct descendants (children, grandchildren, or step-children — not nephews, nieces, siblings, or friends).

Certain trust arrangements — such as Mike Pugh’s Gifted Property Trust — can remove value from your estate and start the 7-year clock. A Life Insurance Trust can ensure that an insurance payout goes directly to your family rather than into your estate, where it would face a 40% IHT charge — and a Life Insurance Trust is typically free to set up. For more on how trusts can help with inheritance tax planning, see our dedicated page.

Directing Asset Distribution

Trust funds give you precise control over how your assets are distributed. Rather than leaving everything outright in a will — where beneficiaries receive a lump sum they can spend, lose, or have claimed from them — a trust allows you to set conditions. For example:

• Holding assets until a child reaches a specified age (e.g., 25 or 30) rather than handing them a large sum at 18.
• Providing for a vulnerable family member without giving them a lump sum that could affect their means-tested benefits.
• Using an interest in possession trust to let a surviving spouse live in the family home, with the capital ultimately passing to the children — preventing sideways disinheritance if the surviving spouse remarries.

In summary, setting up a trust fund is one of the smartest steps you can take to manage your inheritance. It bypasses probate delays, can reduce or eliminate IHT on trust assets, and ensures your wealth goes exactly where you want it to — on your terms.

Finding Professional Help

Trust law is a specialist area — and getting the right advice is essential. Setting up a trust involves legal, tax, and property considerations that require genuine expertise. A generalist approach can lead to costly mistakes, invalid trusts, or missed opportunities for protection.

Here’s how to find the right professional support for your trust fund.

Solicitors Specialising in Trusts

For setting up a trust fund, you need a solicitor or legal professional who specialises in trust law and estate planning — not a general-practice solicitor who does a bit of everything. As Mike Pugh says: “The law — like medicine — is broad. You wouldn’t want your GP doing surgery.” Sources for finding a trust specialist include:

• The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) — the leading professional body for trust and estate practitioners
• Recommendations from friends or family who have set up trusts themselves
• Specialist estate planning firms like MP Estate Planning, which focus exclusively on trusts, wills, and asset protection

For more information on transferring assets into a trust, see our page on how to fund a trust in the UK.

Financial Advisors and Trust Services

Financial advisors can complement your legal team by helping with investment decisions within the trust and ensuring the overall financial strategy is coherent. Look for advisors with specific experience in trust planning — not just general wealth management.

When evaluating professional services, consider the following:

Choosing the Right Support

When selecting professional help for your trust fund, ask specific questions: How many trusts have you set up? Do you specialise in trusts, or is it just one of many services? What are your fees — and are they published transparently? Can you explain the difference between a discretionary trust and a bare trust, and which one is right for me?

MP Estate Planning, founded by Mike Pugh, is the first and only company in the UK that actively publishes all trust prices on YouTube — so you know exactly what you’re paying before you commit. With the right specialist on your side, your trust fund will be set up correctly, tailored to your circumstances, and designed to protect your family for generations. Keeping families wealthy strengthens the country as a whole.

Conclusion: Starting Your Trust Fund Journey

Setting up a trust fund is one of the most impactful steps you can take to protect your family’s wealth. With the IHT nil rate band frozen at £325,000 since 2009 and confirmed frozen until at least April 2031, care fees running at over £1,000 per week, and a divorce rate of around 42%, the threats to family wealth have never been greater — or more avoidable.

Key Considerations

When starting a trust fund, begin by assessing your financial position and identifying the specific threats your estate faces. Choose the right type of trust for your objectives — for most families, a discretionary trust provides the strongest combination of asset protection, tax efficiency, and flexibility. Appoint trustees you trust completely, and work with a specialist who focuses on trust law, not a generalist. A well-structured trust deed, proper TRS registration within 90 days, and a clear letter of wishes form the foundation of an effective trust.

Securing Your Family’s Future

Setting up a trust fund is not just about saving tax or bypassing probate delays — it’s about ensuring your family’s financial security for generations. Whether you’re protecting the family home from care fees, shielding your children’s inheritance from divorce, or simply making sure your wishes are followed when you’re no longer here, a properly structured trust gives you that certainty. As Mike Pugh says: “Plan, don’t panic.” We’re here to help you take the first step with confidence.