Property Protection Trust: protect your share of the family home

A Property Protection Trust (PPT) is a trust written into your will. You may also hear it called a protected property trust or a property trust will. When the first partner dies, their half of the home goes into trust for the people they have chosen, usually their children. The surviving partner keeps the right to live there for as long as they wish.

It is different from an Asset Protection Trust, which is set up while both partners are alive. A Property Protection Trust is created through your wills and takes effect on the first death.

Most couples own their home as joint tenants, so it passes to the survivor after the first death and then to whoever the survivor chooses. With ordinary mirror wills, the survivor is free to change their will afterwards.

If your partner remarries, makes a new will, or needs care and their assets are used, your wishes for your children may not be followed. Our guide to mirror wills explains where they work well and where they fall short.

• Couples with children from earlier relationships, so each partner's share goes to their own children
• Couples whose home is their main asset
• People worried that the survivor might remarry and the home end up with someone else's family
• People who want to protect their share against future care costs

If this sounds like your family, our guide for blended families covers the wider picture.

In England, if your savings and other capital are above £23,250 you generally pay for your own care. Your home can be counted when you move permanently into a care home, with exceptions, for example where a spouse still lives there. These limits are set by government and can change.

A Property Protection Trust can help in the right circumstances. The half held in trust is not part of the surviving partner's own assets, so it may not be counted if they need care. The surviving partner's own half still counts, and councils can challenge arrangements made to avoid care fees. Planning has to be done for sensible reasons, early, and when care is not foreseeable.

We will tell you honestly what a trust can and cannot do in your case. For more detail, read can you protect your home from care fees?

Our Property Protection Trust package for couples is £1,295. It includes mirror wills with the trust and four Lasting Powers of Attorney. The Office of the Public Guardian charges its own registration fee for the LPAs, which is separate. See fees and costs for the full breakdown.

• What is a Property Protection Trust, and how does it work?
• Can you protect your home from care fees?
• What are mirror wills, and are they right for you?
• How should blended families make wills?

This page is general information, not legal advice.