Life Interest Trusts: Providing for a Partner and Protecting Your Children

The problem a life interest trust solves

Many couples leave everything to each other, and then to their children. That works well for many families. But once everything passes to the survivor, it is theirs to do with as they wish.

The survivor might remarry, make a new will, or need to pay for care. Your children could then receive much less than you hoped, or nothing at all. This is sometimes called sideways disinheritance.

It is a particular worry in second marriages and blended families. You may want to look after your partner for life, and still make sure your own children inherit in the end.

A life interest trust is one way to do both. This guide explains how it works. It is general information about the law in England and Wales, not advice on your own situation.

What a life interest is

Your will leaves part of your estate on trust. One person receives the benefit of it for the rest of their life. The legal term for this person is the life tenant.

Depending on what the trust holds, the life tenant can:

• live in the home rent free
• receive the income, such as interest or rent, from savings or investments

The life tenant does not own the capital. They cannot sell it, give it away or leave it in their own will. Your trustees hold it and look after it.

How the remainder passes

When the life tenant dies, the life interest ends. What is left then passes to the people you named in your will, often your children. This is called the remainder.

You choose the people who receive the remainder now, when you make your will. Your partner cannot change that later.

You can also set out what happens if the life interest ends early. For example, your will can say what happens if your partner remarries or moves out for good.

A home, or the whole estate

Your share of the home

Many people put only their share of the family home into the trust. Your partner can stay in the home for life, and your share passes to your children afterwards.

How you own your home matters here. If you own it as joint tenants, your share passes to your partner automatically when you die, whatever your will says. To leave your share on trust, you need to own it as tenants in common.

Source: GOV.UK, Joint property ownership, checked October 2026.

The whole estate, or the residue

Some people put the whole of their estate, or the residue, into the trust. Your partner then has the income from everything, and the capital goes to your children later.

Room to move

A good life interest trust allows for change. Your will can let the trustees:

• sell the home and buy a smaller or more suitable one
• pay some capital to your partner if they need it
• keep the home or the money invested sensibly in the meantime

How much freedom to give the trustees is one of the main choices to make.

The pros and cons

What it can do well

• Your partner has a home and an income for life.
• Your children's inheritance is protected if your partner remarries or makes a new will.
• On the first death, your share is not your partner's own capital. This can matter if your partner later needs care.
• It can reduce the risk of a later family dispute, because everyone knows where things stand.

The drawbacks

• Your partner has less freedom than if they owned everything outright.
• Your partner and your children both have an interest, so tensions can arise. Choosing independent trustees can help.
• Trustees have work to do, and the trust may need tax returns.
• It needs careful drafting, especially around the home, repairs and moving.

If a dispute arises after a death, for example between your partner and your children, they should seek advice promptly. C-PAID: help with will and inheritance disputes can connect them with specialist solicitors in England and Wales.

Inheritance tax in outline

When you die

A life interest that your will gives someone from your death is called an immediate post-death interest. For inheritance tax, the person with it is treated as owning the trust property.

So if the life tenant is your spouse or civil partner, the spouse exemption applies to the trust. There is no inheritance tax on that part of your estate when you die. The one limit is for couples where only one is a long-term UK resident (see below).

The share of your nil rate band you do not use can be added to your spouse or civil partner's own nil rate band. Their executors claim it when they die. Your unused residence nil rate band can pass to them in the same way.

Source: legislation.gov.uk, Inheritance Tax Act 1984, sections 49 and 49A (Latest available (revised) version), checked October 2026.

When your partner dies

The trust is added to your partner's own estate to work out the inheritance tax. The trustees pay the share of any tax that falls on the trust.

If the home then passes outright to your children, they count as inheriting it from your partner. So your partner's residence nil rate band can apply, if the home was their residence, but only if your children are your partner's direct descendants. The stepchildren of a husband, wife or civil partner count as their children for this. If you are not married or in a civil partnership, your children are not your partner's stepchildren. So this allowance does not apply unless your partner adopted them.

Source: HMRC, IHTM46040: Transfer of unused RNRB: the brought-forward allowance (Inheritance Tax Manual) (Updated 7 April 2026), checked October 2026.

Points to watch

• Unmarried partners: the spouse exemption does not apply. The trust is taxed as part of your estate when you die, on any value above your available nil rate band of £325,000. It is then counted again as part of your partner's estate when they die.
• Living abroad: since 6 April 2025, the spouse exemption is limited if you are a long-term UK resident and your spouse is not.
• Larger estates: the residence nil rate band reduces by £1 for every £2 an estate is worth over £2 million. The trust counts as part of your partner's estate for that test.

Source: legislation.gov.uk, Inheritance Tax Act 1984, section 18 (Transfers between spouses or civil partners) (Latest available (revised) version), checked October 2026.

Life interest trusts and care fees

A life interest trust in your will is not a scheme to avoid care fees. But it can protect your share of the home on the first death.

If your partner later needs care, the council looks at what your partner owns. Your share in the trust is not theirs, and the value of their right to its income is ignored as capital. Income the trust actually pays them may count as income. Your partner's own share of the home still counts.

Our guide Can a trust protect your home from care fees? explains this in more detail.

Life interest or a right to live in the home?

Some people want something simpler: a right for their partner to live in the home, with no right to income from other assets. This can work, but it needs the same care with drafting, tax and the remainder. The choice depends on your family, your home and your savings.

Our guide Wills for Blended Families covers other options, such as leaving some gifts straight to your children.

How GetWill handles life interest trusts

A life interest trust needs advice before your will is drafted. With GetWill, it starts with a professional consultation.

If you and your partner are making mirror wills, you stay on the mirror will service and our team contacts you about the trust. If either of you lives outside the UK, you start with a professional consultation instead.

The consultation is £150, including VAT. It includes a legal professional’s review of your circumstances and advice on the will you need. Afterwards we send you a written fee estimate for your will. If you go ahead, the £150 is deducted from that price.

Fifty Six Law reviews every will before it is finalised.

What to do next

• Check whether you own your home as joint tenants or tenants in common. Your title documents may show this, or HM Land Registry can help.
• Talk to your partner about what you each want. Mirror wills may not suit you both.
• Think about who would make fair and steady trustees.
• Start with a professional consultation
• Making mirror wills with your partner: start your mirror wills
• More about trusts: Trusts in Wills

Source: HMRC, IHTM47001: Long-term UK residence test: Introduction and when domicile will remain relevant (Inheritance Tax Manual) (Updated 7 April 2026), checked October 2026.

Last checked against official sources on 14 October 2026.