Discretionary Trust Will for a married person or civil partner (pair)

Use this Will if you're aged 18 or above, married or in a civil partnership, and want to create a discretionary trust of your general nil rate band. This may, for example, be done:

1. To try and restrict a local authority from accessing funds/assets derived from your estate to cover the cost of long-term medical or nursing care for your surviving spouse/civil partner; or

2. To ensure that gifts intended for children/grandchildren from a former relationship are received by them, without the danger of the surviving spouse/civil partner reducing the amount that goes to them.

In addition, you can make as many gifts of money and specific items as you like. You can leave the residuary estate (i.e. what's left after gifts and after deduction of the amount going into the discretionary trust) to as many people as you like, either in equal or unequal shares. You can also appoint guardians for your children and make provisions for the care of pets.

Please note that in order to use this document, your net estate must be worth more than £50,000.

This document is only suitable for use in England & Wales, and Northern Ireland. Those with spouses/civil partners domiciled outside the UK should seek tax advice, as modified inheritance tax rules apply.

A letter of wishes is an informal and non-binding letter addressed to your executors (i.e. the people who carry out the instructions you've left in your will).

You can use it to help or guide them on pretty much anything you like. For example, you can:

• List the significant things you own, including bank accounts, life insurance policies, valuable items, shares etc. and their location.
• Give information to help identify specific items you're giving away in your will (e.g. detailed descriptions or photos).
• Leave special instructions about your burial or cremation.
• Leave instructions about arrangements for your pets.
• In England, Wales or Northern Ireland, explain why you've decided to leave someone out of your will, or leave them less than they might expect (to help defend any legal challenge that these people might make after you've died).

If you've made a will that asks your executors to give away certain personal possessions or digital assets in accordance with a separate note, you can use this letter as that note.

If your will creates a trust, you can also use this letter to leave guidance for the trustees on how you want the trust to be managed. Note: if your will creates more than one trust that you want to leave guidance for, you'll need to create separate letters for each of those trusts. Also, if you want to state wishes about a trust and other matters, you'll need separate letters for your executors and trustees if they're not the same people.

This document is used to sever a 'joint tenancy' of property and, if the property is registered, to register that change at the Land Registry. This converts a joint tenancy into a tenancy in common. This document creates two copies of a notice of severance and, if the property is registered at the Land Registry, a form SEV and a covering letter to the Land Registry. This document can only be used in in relation to property in England or Wales, of which there are one or two owners and two joint tenants. Land Registry forms are reproduced with the permission of HM Land Registry.

Comprehensive instructions on how to use our Discretionary Trust Wills, including signing and witnessing instructions and information on auxiliary documents.