If you want to take advantage of the savings in Inheritance Tax that can be made by using nil rate band discretionary trust Wills, you will need to make sure that you and your spouse/partner own your house as tenants-in-common rather than as joint tenants.

Usually, most properties that are owned by two people are owned as a joint tenancy. This means that each of you jointly owns the entire property. This means that if one of you dies, the entire property automatically passes to the survivor. This is no good if you want to leave your half of the house to a discretionary trust for the purpose of saving Inheritance Tax.

So, before you can utilise a nil-rate band discretionary trust you will need to sever any existing joint tenancy and become tenants-in-common instead.

Being tenants-in-common means that you and your partner will each own a distinct share in the property, and you will be free to do whatever you want with your share in your Will - in this case specifying that some or all of your share passes to a nil-rate band discretionary trust.

The Inheritance Tax planning specialists that we work with will be able to arrange for your joint tenancy to be severed as part of the service they provide. To find out more, please complete our no-obligation enquiry form.