Can i sign my house over to my won

lnewman_2

I am a widow living alone, I have 2 son 1 of which I am estranged from due to him taking large sums of money from me and my husband for many years.

I have made a Will (explaining why I do not want my estranged son to benefit) leaving all to the other son however I am still worried that my estranged son will contest the Will. The thought of him winning somehow and benefiting from my death worries me.

Is it possible for me to sign my house over to my other son to make sure he does not benefit.

I know I can just see a solicitor to do this but would like to know if my estranged son can still contest this after my death.

Thanks for any advice you can give

immoral_angeluk

He could contest the will and ask for financial provision from the estate, but as far as I'm aware all other beneficiaries of the will would have to agree before he would get anything.

CLAPTON

in general you can leave your estate to anyone you want
-the main exceptions are if you have people who are dependant upon you (so under 18 year children can't be excluded, a SAHM etc)
however an adult child who doesn't live with you and who you don't support financially can be excluded.
Its wise to say that you don't want him to inherit anything so he can't contest the will by saying you were confused or left him out by accident.

Degenerate

This is a complicated issue. Firstly, it is actually very difficult to contest a will. To contest your will your son would need grounds. Grounds would be either to suggest that the will did not represent your true wishes at the time of your death, or that you were not of sound mind when you made it. Feeling hard done by for not getting what he thinks is his fair share would be no grounds at all. So the most obvious answer to your dilemma is just to employ the services of a good solicitor to make sure your will is drawn up in a watertight manner.

As for signing over your house (or other assets) as a gift whilst you are still alive, yes this can be done and it would make it nearly impossible for your estranged son to make a claim on those assets, but it has many other implications. It can actually be beneficial as a way to legally avoid inheritance tax if you have substantial assets and do it 7 or more years before you death. OTOH, it has dangers such as the possibility that you could find yourself turfed out of your home in the event that your good son suffers financial misfortune that ends in bankruptcy - creditors would go after the assets in his name. You really need to take proper legal advice before following this course.

Mips

if your son is messsed up already, dont you think that would mess him up even more??