Buying house off inlaws

alicat28

Hi,

My FIl has passed away recently. His will states that on the death of MIL, her half of the house would go to my husband, his half will go to his two children from his first marriage.
Hubby and MIL have been discussing the possiblity of her selling her half of the house to us now (at a nominal price) and us buying out FIL's children with a mortgage. MIL would continue to live there with us. The house is worth around £425,000. I'm not even sure if this is legal and we'd obviously have to get legal advice before doing anything.
I guess my question is....is it possible to do it? and if so what taxes etc could we expect to pay? Also would MIL then have to pay some sort of rent?

Thanks in advance

CLAPTON

are you allowed to buy a house? yes

can you get sufficient mortgage?

will the FIL children agree to sell it to you?

how is it possible for FIL to say waht happens to MIL share of anything... it's either hers or it isn't

what was the ownership of the house?

somethingcorporate

You need to consider depirvation of assets too if the mother were ever to need care, if she is disposing of the house for a nominal value.

alicat28

mortage wise shouldn't be a problem - we have a house of around 220,000 to sell and should be able to borrow a little more if needed. I think we'll need around 215,000ish for half the house, plus then whatever we'd need to pay out for any tax costs...

FIL children would rather have the money.....

The house is 50-50 in both names.

I point over future care of MIL is something we'd have to consider.

McKneff

Presumably they owned it as tennants in common, this needs to be checked before anything.
If they were joint tennants, its a different matter and means MIL owns all the house.

Saying '50 50' doesnt give the correct information.

Sorry but Im fairly sure that he cant dictate where MILs half goes, she can leave it to whoever she wants to leave it to..

.

bris

It could be a condition of the will that the MIL lives in the house until she dies but then the FIL's half goes to his children, nothing wrong there.
The deprivation of assets is the main concern here, depending on the state of the MIL's health.
If the MIL is healthy and expected to live for say another 7 to 10 years without needing any care then there will be no problem, if however she is frail and could deteroriate to care level in a couple of years then the problems would start.
The children would have their money and be away free, however the house may be pulled back into the care home fees issue and could have a charging order put on it to secure the fees.

Valli

McKneff is right - he cannot have written, in his will, what happens to half the house after MIL's death if he predeceased her.

So - either he left his half of the house to his children on his death or it all went to MIL. You need to be certain who owns ALL the house NOW.

CLAPTON

alicat28 wrote: »

mortage wise shouldn't be a problem - we have a house of around 220,000 to sell and should be able to borrow a little more if needed. I think we'll need around 215,000ish for half the house, plus then whatever we'd need to pay out for any tax costs...

FIL children would rather have the money.....

The house is 50-50 in both names.

I point over future care of MIL is something we'd have to consider.

the ownership of the house is pretty central to the situation here

did FIL leave any other assets/money?

was his will drawn up by a solicitor?

getmore4less

alicat28 wrote: »

Hi,

My FIl has passed away recently. His will states that on the death of MIL, her half of the house would go to my husband, his half will go to his two children from his first marriage.

What does the will really say that on it's own is not enough.

Who owns it, is there a trust what sort, who are the trustees etc.

bris

The way I read the will, the fathers half goes to his children from his first marriage, on the condition that they can't sell it until the MIL passes away. Issume therefor that both the MIL and the FIL's children own half the house each.
I believe what the op wants to do is buy the childrens half now and get the MIL's half cheap.

Valli

bris wrote: »

The way I read the will, the fathers half goes to his children from his first marriage, on the condition that they can't sell it until the MIL passes away. Issume therefor that both the MIL and the FIL's children own half the house each.
I believe what the op wants to do is buy the childrens half now and get the MIL's half cheap.

you may well be right BUT if a mortgage is to be raised the BS will need proof of ownership and it does need to be clarified. If this was NOT a professionally drawn up will there may well be problems with how the FILS wishes are to be carried out, even if the OP wishes to abide by the terms of the will and hand over cash to the other beneficiaries.
There is also the issue of deprivation of assets.

What the OP and her husband and MIL need to do is see a solicitor and clarify ownership of the house.