Hi! Vanilla, thanks for your reply. I was thinking of giving the children a life interest in the house, because my ex partner is a gambler (internet). When we were together, he was going through 100k a year - his salary, no mortgage (he was living in my house which had no mortgage), and I was paying most of the bills. When we split up he tried to make a claim on my house, even though he didn't contribute to the purchase, redocration or maintenance of the house. The only bills he contributed to was the telephone and cable t.v. He tried, but failed to make a claim on my house, based on the fact that he had a licence to live there, through having lived there for over three years. Somehow he managed to get joint custody of the children in the courts, though we now live 50 miles apart. He belives that joint custody gives him the ability to challenge any trust fund I set up for the children. That's why I would prefer a strict trust. Any advice or suggestions would again be greatly appreciated.