Jointly inheriting a property

Ignoramus

WarriorPrincess wrote: »

Other questions: If a property is left to more than one person, can one decide they want to keep it / do it up, & stop the distribution of the will until the house is ultimately sold? (Raising money on it in the meantime to pay off IHT & Equity Release debts - & possibly to finance the work on the property).

oh would be happy to wait a couple of years before getting anything, to avoid arguments. Would that be allowed legally? (I think it's a completely bananas idea, but that's by-the-by). Or will the lawyers insist the property is sold to cover debts & allow distribution of the proceeds?

As my moniker would suggest I know nothing about nothing so I shouldn't really be sticking my oar in here.

Having said that...

I'm sure that if one person didn't wanted to sell the house, but the other did,the house would still have to be sold to fulfill the terms of the will. No one can stop the distribution of the will as you put it. I'm fairly sure that if both agreed to keep the house that would be fine, but I'm not so sure how that works with a 1/4, 3/4 ownership situation as opposed to joint ownership.


"Raising money on it in the meantime to pay off IHT & Equity Release debts - & possibly to finance the work on the property"
I'm not quite sure what you meant by the meantime, right now? or after oh's father passes away? I'm sure you have already investigated this but I seem to remember that a certain portion of the IHT bill must be paid straight away before you get probate and can dispose of the assets. That can be difficult if you are cash poor and IHT bill is big.

Finally, if the estate has large debts that can only be covered by selling the house, I imagine from common sense alone you would be forced to do that first of all. You couldn't just chose not to pay them for a few years.

When talking about renting the house to pay for care, wouldn't that introduce CGT liability as well? Though it might be covered by the 3 year main residence exemption?..

hmm I hope I'm not just muddying the waters for you. Situations like this with (difficult?) family members, ill health and large amounts of money are always extremely unpleasant and you have my sympathy.

I would definitely urge you to get some very good advice on your situation.

DianeM

Not sure if this will be any use to you.

OH's auntie is in a home because of dementia and oh's uncle (her husband) died suddenly leaving no will. They only have one daughter and she was not allowed to rent out the property in order to fully fund the care home fees so the property had to be sold. All monies are now in the hands of a solicitor and anything that needs to be purchased for Auntie has to go through the solicitor.
My point is that if he goes into a home it won't matter who the house has been left to - unless of course it is has already been in their names for a few years.
Hope That Help's x D x
of course what's left will be divided but I would have thought if he has been left the bigger portion he would have the majority say.

Mojisola

DianeM wrote: »

OH's auntie is in a home because of dementia and oh's uncle (her husband) died suddenly leaving no will. They only have one daughter and she was not allowed to rent out the property in order to fully fund the care home fees so the property had to be sold. All monies are now in the hands of a solicitor and anything that needs to be purchased for Auntie has to go through the solicitor.
My point is that if he goes into a home it won't matter who the house has been left to - unless of course it is has already been in their names for a few years.

That may have been because the daughter did not have an EPA.

WarriorPrincess's OH and BiL have this in place already and so can legally act for their father.