Unfortunately, Marilyn Halpern’s story is not unique.
Hundreds of people have been caught out after their deceased parents put their property into trust to try and avoid their houses being sold to pay for care home fees.
Marilyn told BBC presenter Angela Rippon: “We’ve been naive. My mum and dad worked really hard to buy this house.
Fighting back tears, her sister added: ”We feel we’ve let mother down and we haven’t been able to sell the house as were her wishes.
“It’s time to move on and mourn because we can’t do that until the house is sorted out.”
READ MORE: TV licence: How to save money on BBC fee and streaming services
He continued: “They were told this is a good thing to protect your children’s inheritance against being used for care home fees.
“So of course my parents thought ‘very good idea’ and trusted the building society and set up a trust.”
Since going through this ordeal, Ian has set up a Facebook group to help others in the same boat.
He has been overwhelmed by the numbers of others who have got in touch to say they have spent thousands trying to gain control of their late parent’s house.
Graham Southorn from Maplebrook Wills said it’s important to bear in mind that trustees don’t have to be professionals.
“When you are looking to set up a Trust for your property, bear in mind that the people who have control over the assets in any Trust are the trustees.
“But the trustees don’t have to be professionals.
“You can set up a Trust with family members and friends as trustees – they have to be in agreement about decisions so you need to make sure you trust them and that they get on which each other.
“It’s easy to find a Trust provider who would let you choose people you want as Trustees.”
