Writing a will does have potential problems.

[Dave7]

EG......my wife and I did our wills (paying a professional) .
It was straight forward as there are 2 children who get on and are equally loved. So, as many people do we each left 'our half' in trust to the children.......so that, should one of us go into a care home they can't touch our money etc.
Fast Forward.
My wife passed away in June.
My health deteriorated.
Decision was made to sell the house to my daughter and SiL and for me to live in the existing 'granny flat'.
ONLY......its not that simple........BECAUSE 1/4 of the house now belongs to my son "in trust".
None of us thought of that.
We are meeting with the will writer and a well respected solicitor to work out the best way forward.
NB.
My son only wants what is best for me and is not causing any problems.....its purely a legal problem.
I will keep you informed.......this is simply to warn everyone that things/Wills may not be as straight forward as first thought.

 

[Jameshow]

EG......my wife and I did our wills (paying a professional) .
It was straight forward as there are 2 children who get on and are equally loved. So, as many people do we each left 'our half' in trust to the children.......so that, should one of us go into a care home they can't touch our money etc.
Fast Forward.
My wife passed away in June.
My health deteriorated.
Decision was made to sell the house to my daughter and SiL and for me to live in the existing 'granny flat'.
ONLY......its not that simple........BECAUSE 1/4 of the house now belongs to my son "in trust".
None of us thought of that.
We are meeting with the will writer and a well respected solicitor to work out the best way forward.
NB.
My son only wants what is best for me and is not causing any problems.....its purely a legal problem.
I will keep you informed.......this is simply to warn everyone that things/Wills may not be as straight forward as first thought.

Shouldn't be a problem for a good solicitor.
Will cost though!

 

[oldwheels]

Half of my house apparently still belongs to my wife who has been dead for just over 8 years. This popped up recently after some other legal stuff was proposed and the solicitor wanted not far off £1000 to sort it out.
Very simple legal procedure but the next generation can deal with it.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

By coincidence we have just started investigating the pro's & con's of putting the house into a Trust for the kids.

I'll start a separate thread for this.

 

[rogerzilla]

Sounds like you went for "tenants in common" rather than "joint tenants" (the normal option) for the house.

 

[bikingdad90]

I am sure you will be aware but if the trust sells its share of the house then potentially it becomes a capital gain. Trusts have a much smaller allowance.

 

[fossyant]

Certainly need some legal advice, especially if you wish both kids to have 50% share once you've 'gone'.

SIL wanted to 'buy' MIL's house at a 'discount' - we all said no as that would likely cause issues as the house needed to be at market value as we had a charge against the property for MIL's nursing home costs, and could be seen as a depravation of assets. In the end, we sold the house about a year after MIL passing, paid the Council for he fees, then split what was left over.

 

[simongt]

We updated our wills recently, nothing much has changed, more just bringing it into line with current legal niceties, but whoever goes first; probably me, the other gets the entire estate. when the survivor has gone, my grandchildren get an equal share each and the rest goes to a named charity who will also act as the executors, thus doing the legal vultures out of a wedge when the time comes.

 

[spen666]

We updated our wills recently, nothing much has changed, more just bringing it into line with current legal niceties, but whoever goes first; probably me, the other gets the entire estate. when the survivor has gone, my grandchildren get an equal share each and the rest goes to a named charity who will also act as the executors, thus doing the legal vultures out of a wedge when the time comes.

Why appoint Charity as Executors? Like lawyers or other professionals, they will charge the estate huge fees for the work done.
Far better, if they are adults , to appoint 2 of the residuary beneficiaries as executors. If necessary they can instruct lawyers as needed. This means the executors have far better control on legal costs.

I speak as a lawyer who would never appoint a lawyer or other professional as an executor in their professional capacity

 

[Emanresu]

Make it simple and give it all away before you go ... or spend it. You can have more fun that way.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Make it simple and give it all away before you go ... or spend it. You can have more fun that way.

My Dad has done this. He signed a property over to me last month, and did the same with my Gran's old house signing it over to my sister. There were many things to consider though (hence solicitors were involved) e.g. my Dad still has income from other streams and he had gone over one of the thresholds for the year so couldn't sign both houses over to us siblings at the same time; they had to be done in different financial years. It's made easier by the fact that he is still expected to live another 7 years.

You can make it very simple, but IME what you save in solicitors fees will pale into insignificance when it comes to inheritance taxes etc. It's a grand or so versus anything up to 40% the value of the estate depending on circumstances

 

[wiggydiggy]

Make it simple and give it all away before you go ... or spend it. You can have more fun that way.

Definately. Came to light recently a relative needed works doing to their house, I said 'get it done now' when they asked if they should. No point living in sub standard conditions if you've got the money to fix it.

Why appoint Charity as Executors? Like lawyers or other professionals, they will charge the estate huge fees for the work done.
Far better, if they are adults , to appoint 2 of the residuary beneficiaries as executors. If necessary they can instruct lawyers as needed. This means the executors have far better control on legal costs.

I speak as a lawyer who would never appoint a lawyer or other professional as an executor in their professional capacity

I've acted as an executor, it sounds more hard work than it is. The government has services like "TellUsOnce" which make registering a death with various official agencies easy, and most private instituations especially larger ones have dedicated bereavement teams to help you. A solicitor was engaged to deal with the things that had to be correct to save stress from me getting it wrong.

 

[spen666]

,,,,


I've acted as an executor, it sounds more hard work than it is. The government has services like "TellUsOnce" which make registering a death with various official agencies easy, and most private instituations especially larger ones have dedicated bereavement teams to help you. A solicitor was engaged to deal with the things that had to be correct to save stress from me getting it wrong.

That is exactly what I am suggesting. You are executor. You instruct lawyers to do bits of it.
When lawyers or other professional outfits are executors, then technically, they are their own clients!

 

[ClichéGuevara]

Not wanting to hi-jack this but...

Is there any benefit in me signing my house over to my daughter now, and are there any pitfalls?

I see the main benefit being taking it out of any care home type scenario in the future.

The main pitfall I am aware of is the risk of her and her partner breaking up, which would give him half of the house I'm potentially still living in, so is there a way of keeping it out of a divorce petition?

EDIT: I've just looked on a legal site, and as I would still be living there, it is deemed as a “Gift With a Reservation of Benefit.” so would still form part of the inheritance tax calculation, but I believe I would still be below the threshold anyway.

 

[spen666]

Not wanting to hi-jack this but...

Is there any benefit in me signing my house over to my daughter now, and are there any pitfalls?

I see the main benefit being taking it out of any care home type scenario in the future.

The main pitfall I am aware of is the risk of her and her partner breaking up, which would give him half of the house I'm potentially still living in, so is there a way of keeping it out of a divorce petition?

There are all sorts of potential problems in this.
You need to seek professional advice from an expert who has all the facts. Random people on internet in possession of a tiny part of relevant facts are not going to give you reliable advice.

A basic problem. You sign property over to your daughter. She then tells you to move out. You are homeless and have lost all savings

If you try to put in a clause allowing you to remain there, then it is not an unconditional gift to your daughter and your home could still be used in potential calculations as to affordability of care costs...