Proactive Planning: Safeguarding Your Home

The Risks of Basic Wills

Relying on a basic Will is like gambling with your hard-earned assets

Paul King TEP, Head of April King Legal, shares his personal experience:
“My grandfather left everything to my grandmother in a Mirror Will. When she required care later in life, the entire estate was used to fund care home fees. By the time she passed, there was little left for her children to inherit. If my grandparents had used this proactive and legitimate type of planning ahead of time, he could have safeguarded his half of the home, ensuring part of the estate was preserved for the family.”

With April Wills®, you can take steps to protect your share of the property while still ensuring your spouse is cared for during their lifetime.

Myth 1: “Gifting My House to My Children Will Protect It”

Fact: This is a huge gamble. Gifting your property might seem like a ‘quick fix’, but the local authority can investigate this transfer at any time. If they believe it was done to avoid care fees, they can rule it as a ‘deliberate deprivation of assets’.

Think about it from the council’s perspective: you’ve owned your home for 30 years, and then, just as you approach old age, you suddenly give it away for no genuine reason? It’s a blazing red flag. With council budgets tighter than ever, teams are specifically trained to spot these schemes, and the clampdown is only getting harsher.

There is no time limit on how far back they can look.

Worse, you lose all legal control of your home. If the child you gift it to goes through a divorce or bankruptcy, your home is now their asset, and a stranger could force its sale.

Myth 2: “The Seven-Year Rule Will Protect Me”

Fact: This is a common and dangerous mix-up. The seven-year rule relates only to Inheritance Tax, not care fees.

It has no relevance to a local authority assessment. A council can look back indefinitely (10, 15, 20+ years) to see why you gave the asset away. If they find the main reason was to avoid care costs, they will charge you as if you still owned the property.

Myth 3: “What About Living Trusts?”

Fact: These “Living” or “Lifetime Trusts” are aggressively marketed online, but they all involve one thing: losing ownership and control of your home.

The warnings are not new. Age UK sounded the alarm on these schemes as early as 2013, back when they were typically called ‘Asset Protection Trusts’. The UK’s top legal bodies agree:

STEP (the global trust body) confirms trusts set up during your lifetime specifically to avoid care fees will likely fail.
The Association of Lifetime Lawyers warns of a "trust mis-selling scandal".

The costs are eye-watering—typically £4,000 to £7,000 just to set up. We regularly see families trapped by hidden annual fees and huge ‘exit charges’, paying thousands more just to try and unravel the damage.

And here is the worst part: if the council challenges any of these “solutions,” the chances are you will already be in care. This leaves your family to fight the legal battle and deal with the stress and costs of your earlier actions. It’s a complete backfire and a situation nobody wants for their children.

An important note: Many people don’t realise that if you go into care while your partner is still living in the home, the property is typically disregarded from the means test anyway. The real danger is what happens after one of you passes away. If the survivor then needs care, the entire value of the home is assessed, and this is when we see estates completely swallowed by fees.