Buying a home in the UK

This question isn't really about me being a USC in the UK, but I'm hoping someone on this forum might have a bit of feedback for us.

My fiance inherited the home we live in from his father, but it is actually owned in a bare trust with his sister.  The stipulations of the will allowed him to live in the home without any rental payments for his life, or until he married.  It is a very simple trust with only one asset - the house - and no income.  My fiance and his sister are the only trustees and only beneficiaries.  Anyway, the plan is for me to buy out my future sister in law's half of the home and then own it jointly (tenants in common) with my (then to be) husband. 

My thoughts are that the trust will be voided upon the sale of the house (this is stipulated in the trust), so it really shouldn't be an issue.  But will it be enough to have the trust (fiance and sister) sell the house to us (husband and myself) while only half of the sales price is changing hands?  Do we have to go through the motions of fiance selling the house to himself for a penny or pound?

This is very frustrating for my fiance since there was never supposed to be a trust in the first place (the house is valued at under 125,000 GBP so inheritance taxes were never an issue) but, thanks to a solicitor who didn't follow his father's instructions, it is the situation we have to deal with.

Separate from that, I see nothing in the information I've read that indicates we need to involve a solicitor or conveyancer for the sale, since it only involves changing the ownership with the Land Registry. Is that right?

I realize the answer to these questions is likely to be to seek legal advice, but if anyone has anything to input, or can recommend a good source for that advice (we live near Newcastle upon Tyne), I'd very much appreciate it.

This was my FIL's situation.  I could ask him your questions if you want but will take a few days.

I think it would be impossible to do without a solicitor though.   

This was my FIL's situation.  I could ask him your questions if you want but will take a few days.

I think it would be impossible to do without a solicitor though.   

I would very much like to hear your FIL's take on the situation. It's no problem waiting a few days since we are getting married a week from today (yup, only ONE more week!!!  ), and we won't be doing much on the house situation until after that anyway.

Even if we end up using a solicitor (which does seem highly probable), I'd like to have some idea what the situation is.  Not to insult anyone, but in my experience lawyers and such can complicate a situation unnecessarily, so it helps to have some knowledge about what is required.

Thanks KFdancer! 

Thought I'd post an update about this issue.  We did end up using a solicitor, which made things very simple and quickly done.  The real advantage we had is that we weren't dealing with a mortgage. 

I will strongly recommend shopping around for a solicitor though, we had quotes ranging from over £600 to around £250 for exactly the same services!   

The term 'highway robbery' comes to mind...