refusing inheritance

sibelius_2

Hello,

I am one of four children and my father who lives and works in France owns an expensive flat in London. All four of us live and work in London, and my father said that we are due to inherit the property, but I want to refuse my share (as inheriting is against my principles).

Where would my share go if I renounce the property? Can I donate my share to charity and if so, would it be exempt from inheritance tax?

I don't know if this the right place to ask for advice, but I would be grateful for any guidance on this. Many thanks for your time.

mountainofdebt

This is a really odd situation ......usually people are arguing that they don't have enough of the estate,lol!

The way I would look at the situation is that it's your dad's money and I would want him to enjoy their money whilst he is still alive and not have to scrimp - and if there is any thing left over then how he wants to share it out is up to him.

If - when your dad dies and leaves you anything - you still feel the same, then what you do with the money - is up to you but even even if you give the money to charity, any inheritance tax would be calculated on the value of your dad's estate and not on any bequests made in his will.

Compound_2

sibelius wrote: »

my father said that we are due to inherit the property, but I want to refuse my share

You should reply to your father, explaining your feelings. It would be better if he left your 25% to charity directly as this would reduce the inheritance tax burden on the estate. Alternatively, your father may wish the property to stay in the family as giving a charity an interest could make things difficult for your siblings. In that case, he would amend his will to name only your siblings - they would get 33% each, instead of 25%.

NOTE: this is the situation for people living and dying in the UK. If your father’s lives, has property in, and dies in France that could change the equation.

sibelius_2

Thanks for your replies. I've done some research and found out that in France, by law all your assets automatically go to your children (to be shared equally among them), although you are allowed to allocate a share of your assets to another party of your choice (the size of this share depends on how many children you have).

In my father's case, as he has 4 children, he can choose a quarter of his wealth to go to anybody he chooses. This means that three quarters of it HAS to be equally distributed among my siblings and me.

If my father agrees that my share is donated to charity, I'd like to know if there is a way to avoid inheritance tax so that my share goes directly to charity tax-free. If it's possible, I would probably tell my father what I feel so that we can make arrangements. If I have to pay inheritance tax, then I would not mention it to him at all as there would be no point.

If you can help, let me know.

Ms_Chocaholic

A close friend was left money in the will of his late wife's brother. He didn't feel that the bequest was rightfully his and felt this should go to his late wife's two children (his step children and the nieces of the man who died). The friend refused the money, however, the process to change the will has been lengthy, the two stepdaughters have yet to receive the money and a lot of it has been lost in legal fees.

If a situation were to arise that your father's will had not been altered and a share of the money was left to you rather than a charity of his/your choice, it may be better to accept the bequest and forward the money straight to the charity.

Compound_2

I think the French succession rules may only apply to property in France, meaning the London flat is unaffected. You need to verify this, and whether the London flat is likely to come under French or UK taxation. I don’t know whether France gives tax relief for bequests to charity - Britain does.

If I were your father, I would consider leaving my 25% discretionary allowance to my other three children. This would reduce your share to 19% (75 divided by 4) and increase theirs to 27% each.

If it does come down to you giving the money yourself to charity, there is income tax relief to the extent that you pay income tax.

mpython

Is your father resident in France or UK or both? I believe this changes the way inheritance rules apply. Also, do any of you reside in the flat & have written tenancy or adverse possession, this would be another factor to be taken into account. No doubt he has other assets as well if he's living in France?

Although it can be a very difficult subject, it would be best to speak to your father first as its currently his money/ assets to distribute. As he's already broken the ice on what his wishes are, I would assume he would be OK to discuss it with all 4 of you. If he agrees to give your share to charity then it may be an idea to speak the charity that you'd like to benefit as they have legal advisors & will writing services that can help.

The only point I would make is, sometimes, leaving a "share" of an estate to a charity can cause problems & bad feelings amongst the other beneficiiaries such as your siblings. A family friend left her house & shares to her 3 children and a national charity in equal shares. It then took 4 years before the first payment was made to anyone because the charity wanted to maximise the value from the house & shares. If the will had been written slightly differently, like saying give £50k to the charity, the whole business would have been sorted very much quicker, less spent on lawyers, people able to put the matter behind them quicker & moving on with their lives etc etc. There was a similar story in our local paper a while back. A lady died and left her home (a very nice country home with loads of gardens & woods) to a wildlife charity. The charity subsequently since submited plans to build a dozen houses on the plot! Hardly what people think she would have intended, but again, maximising the £value to the charity of the gift.

(Please don't let this be a troll).

mancitychick

Is your Father aware of your intentions? As horrible as it may sound, if inheriting is against your principles and you are going to reject your share. How then do you get a say in where it goes. Surely you would first have to accept the inheritance to then decide to give it to charity?

Is your Father and siblings aware of how you feel and what you are planning to do, if so, great. If not you could cause alot of tension. Obviously your Dad would of passed on so he won't know but your siblings would and it could cause alot of ill will between you.

As for your Father he may not want to leave part of his flat to charity, he may want to leave it between his other 3 children if you do not want your share.