Joint tenant with mum - does she need to make a will?

McKneff

Are your siblings aware that the house will pass to you as things stand at the moment. this can cause major disruptions within families.

sebastianj

Confused, so in what circumstances TIC will be relevant, i thought it was to safeguard against Health care expenses?
rgd
seb

EdInvestor

Baggysdad wrote: »

As regards the value of mums share of the house if she needs care while OP is still alive, provided the OP doesn't want to sell the house, it should be valued at Nil irrespective of the way the property is owned. In fact the case law which set this precedent involved two sisters who owned a property as joint tenants. Google 'Special Commissioners v Palfrey' for more information. Subsequent case law extended this principle to people who owned as tenants in common.

Perhaps you could provide a link to more information about this case.Can''t find it on Google so far.

sloughflint

anniehanlon wrote: »

Are your siblings aware that the house will pass to you as things stand at the moment. this can cause major disruptions within families.

But Op doesn't have much choice in that respect if the mother is reluctant to think about the future even if it were an issue to her.

Imagine if OP had severed the tenancy as suggested in the thread and the mother died intestate:

The property would then be partly owned by siblings.
If they ever became bankrupt or divorced, OP might no longer be safe in her own home ( which she was paying a full mortgage on).

The only way round that would have been to place the mother's share ( and what is it really?) in a trust but she is unwilling to write a Will.OP's hands are well and truly tied.

EdInvestor

There's a reference to the Palfrey case in this very useful round-up of the rules relating to care and property (and other issues):

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/retirement/article.html?in_article_id=411952&in_page_id=6

It indicates that where the joint owner lives in, then a nil value is appropriate when assessing for liability to pay care fees.On that basis, the OP should be fine as she is with the joint tenancy, which also gets around the sibling issues and mum's refusal to deal with wills..

freeasabird

I'm glad I posted on here because I thought this might be straightforward and clearly it isn't. The Palfrey case is interesting and I will follow that up. I think I will get legal advice although it is complicated by the fact that my mother prefers a more informal approach so there may only be so much I can do on my own. It was very stressful when my father died even when there were no property issues. I just want to make sure my mum is ok and avoid any problems in the future. Thank you all for responding to my posts.

McKneff

Please let us know how you get on, we always like a 'happy ending'

monkey_spank

freeasabird wrote:

I think I will get legal advice although it is complicated by the fact that my mother prefers a more informal approach so there may only be so much I can do on my own. It was very stressful when my father died even when there were no property issues. I just want to make sure my mum is ok and avoid any problems in the future.

Save your money. Baggysdad was totally spot on in what he said.

McKneff

Ken68 wrote: »

WOW some postings. Has prompted me to see a solicitor.
Joint tenancy with my brother who lives elswhere, although he did live here for a long time. He said something years ago about maybe me having to sell the house when he dies, some tax to pay.
Concerned, thought it was open and shut case similar to OP.

if you live in the house and you are joint tennants, if your brother dies you would automatically enherit the house, You shouldnt have tax to pay on your only home,

localhero

anniehanlon wrote:

if you live in the house and you are joint tennants, if your brother dies you would automatically enherit the house, You shouldnt have tax to pay on your only home,

I'm afraid inheritance tax is levied on the estate of the deceased and the estate does include jointly owned property.

Depending on what the brother's share of the property is worth will determine whether or not IHT will be liable.

If there is an IHT liability on the asset, I'm afraid also that it's payable by the person entitled to the asset after the deceased's death.