Wills
What to do after you buy a house in the UK
Completion day is not the end of the paperwork: the will, ownership type, insurance trust and LPAs to sort after you buy.
England & Wales · Plain English
Keep the lot
Straight advice on wills, trusts and inheritance tax — so your home, your savings and the people you love are looked after, without the jargon.
Free to use · No account needed · A couple can pass on up to £1,000,000 tax-free in the right circumstances.
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Straight answers to the questions families actually ask
Ordinary UK examples — the house, the savings, the life policy — and what actually protects them.
Inheritance tax
Should your parents give you their house?
Why signing the family home over to the children often backfires on tax, care fees and control — and what to do instead.
Protecting your assets
Why you may not want everything in your own name
Sole ownership is simple until divorce, care fees or probate. Why control and ownership are not the same thing.
Wills
Six things not to do when you make a will in the UK
Six common will mistakes that cost families the house, each with an ordinary example and the fix.
Trusts
How to put your home into a trust in England and Wales
The actual steps to put a house into a trust — ownership type, lender consent, the TR1 transfer — and the tax and care-fee traps.
Protecting your assets
Six estate planning mistakes UK families make
The six planning mistakes that show up after a death or a care bill, with worked examples and a Saturday-morning fix.
Trusts
How a trust works in the UK, without the pen trick
Settlors, trustees and beneficiaries explained with a real family — and what a trust does and does not stop.
Trusts
Is a trust better than a will?
A will and a trust do different jobs. When a homeowner needs both, and when a trust is a waste of money.
Where would you like to start?
Four things that protect a family estate
Most people need some combination of these. Start wherever your worry is.
Wills
What a will does, what it costs, and how to get one that actually works.
Trusts
What a trust is in plain English, when it genuinely helps, and when it does not.
Power of attorney
Who decides for you if you cannot — and why a will alone is not enough.
Protecting your assets
Care fees, inheritance tax and the legitimate ways to keep more in the family.
Free tool
Could a trust protect your home from care fees and tax?
Answer five simple questions and see the allowances your estate can use, what inheritance tax would be due today, and how much of your home a property protection trust could ring-fence. Takes about two minutes.
Illustrative estimate, not advice or a guarantee. Figures checked 6 April 2026.
The whole picture, in order
How to keep the lot in six steps
The whole estate-planning journey in six ordered steps — will, trust, tax, LPA, executors, advice.
More guides
Recently written or updated
- How to keep the lot in six steps The whole estate-planning journey in six ordered steps — will, trust, tax, LPA, executors, advice.
- Protecting your home and savings Care fees, inheritance tax and the legitimate ways to keep more in the family.
- Care fees explained: who pays what The means test, the thresholds, and what the council can and cannot count.
- Inheritance tax explained in plain English How the allowances work, what is actually taxed, and the legitimate ways to reduce the bill.
- How to reduce inheritance tax legally Ten legitimate ways to cut the bill, in order of who they suit.
- The nil-rate band explained The £325,000 allowance everyone gets, and how couples make it £650,000.
How we work
Free to read, honest about how we're paid
KeepTheLot is an information service, not a law firm. Our guides are free and always will be. When you ask to speak to an expert, we introduce you to a regulated adviser who may pay us a referral fee — that fee never changes what we tell you, and we'll never nudge you toward a product you don't need.
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You read, free, with no sign-up
Every guide is written in plain English, cites GOV.UK and HMRC directly, and shows the date it was last checked.
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You work out what you actually need
Use the calculator or the six-step guide to see which of a will, a trust, an LPA or gifting is relevant to you — and which isn't.
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If you want a human, we introduce one
Tell us what you need and we'll connect you with a regulated adviser who handles that work. No cost to you, no obligation.
Frequently asked questions
Do I actually need a will?
If you own anything you care about, or you have children under 18, then yes. Without a will the intestacy rules decide who inherits, and they are stricter than most people expect. An unmarried partner gets nothing, no matter how long you were together. A surviving spouse gets the personal possessions plus £322,000 and only half of whatever is left above that, with the rest going to the children.
Is KeepTheLot a law firm?
No. We are an independent information service covering England & Wales. We are not regulated by the SRA and nothing on this site is legal advice. When you want a professional, we introduce you to a regulated adviser — they may pay us a referral fee, which never changes what we tell you. Read how we work.
How much inheritance tax will my family pay?
Nothing on the first £325,000 of your estate — that is the nil-rate band. If you leave your home to children or grandchildren you may get another £175,000 on top. Married couples and civil partners can pass unused allowances to each other, which is how a couple can reach £1,000,000 tax-free. Anything above the available allowances is normally taxed at 40%. Our calculator works it out for your figures.
Can I protect my home from care fees?
Partly, and only in legitimate ways. The most common is a property protection trust in the wills of a married couple, which ring-fences the first partner's share of the home so it is not counted in the survivor's means test. What you cannot do is give assets away to dodge a care bill — councils can treat that as deliberate deprivation of assets, reverse the effect and pursue whoever received the money. Here is what actually works.
What does a will cost in the UK?
Typically £150 to £400 for a straightforward single will from a solicitor or regulated will-writer, and £250 to £600 for a pair of mirror wills. Online services start around £90. Wills containing a trust usually run £500 to £2,000. See the full breakdown.
Does any of this apply in Scotland or Northern Ireland?
Inheritance tax is UK-wide, so the allowances and rates are the same. Almost everything else is different: Scotland has its own succession rules including legal rights for children, and Northern Ireland has separate rules again. Our guides cover England & Wales only, and we say so on every page.
This is general information, not legal advice. Everyone's situation is different — speak to a qualified adviser before acting. KeepTheLot is an independent information service covering England & Wales. We are not a law firm.