Property in Will.

madbadrob

The only way to have the terms of the will set aside would be to prove the will is invalid. You could speak to your brother and ask him if he would have a problem with you having your share outright and then if he agrees talk to the solicitor (as the other executor) about a deed of variation.

Rob

getmore4less

did the question who eventually the capital ever get answered?

madbadrob

NO Getmore4less.

Rob

John_Pierpoint

stuart2088 wrote: »

Regarding my previous postings and the helpful advice received there has been a development.
The property is now to be sold. So the question of me coughing up for refurbishment costs is redundant.

My question now is regarding this life interest Trust Fund. Just worked it out and to receive the same monetary return from income as my brother will receive in cash terms i will probably need to live till over a 100 years.

As previously stated i understand my fathers reason for going down this route but i suspect he was poorly advised or at least did not fully understand the consequences.

Either way is there any way this trust fund can be set aside as i dont believe it serves a useful purpose at this stage.

Can I ask a couple of simple questions ?

1. Do you have children or other dependants ?

2. If you were to get half the value of the house in your bank account tomorrow, what would you do with it ?.

stuart2088_2

No problem.

No children and no dependants.

Yes i would clear a couple of routine small debts. Treat myself to a month in Australia.

Invest the remainder.

John_Pierpoint

So assuming the interest in possession trust is not broken, who will inherit the capital when you die? Does the will/trust say anything about the children you just might still have ?

How did your father acquire the money that bought the house ?

stuart2088_2

I understand the capital would go to my two nieces my brothers two daughters.

The house was bought over time with a mortgage by my mother and father. They owned it for over 40 years.

madbadrob

Stuart,

I would ask to see the will to make sure that is the case and if so there is little liklihood of you having the trust set aside

Rob

John_Pierpoint

Presumably nieces are over 18 ?
If you are all adults you can unravel a trust but somehow I don't think you will all agree.

So in summary, your father (& mother) worked all their lives to build up the capital invested in their house, that was their money and they could leave it as they saw fit.
They could have "skiied" it all away or left it to charity.

It was only when I extracted a copy of my great grandfather's will (written within the month of his death aged 50 ) that I finally got to understand the dynamics within my family. A classic attempt at clogs to clogs in three generations.
Brought up with the three taboos of the pre 1960s generations (sex, money & death) there was a gap in my understanding.
I discovered a long lost and dead great uncle to add to my grandmother and great aunt.
You could see that great frandfathe was desperate to leave the family businesses to someone who would manage them effectively. Number one in his hopes was his childless son and only then his childless daughters. So he created a trust for his not yet born grand children, with his wife and then his children getting a life interest.
So nobody for two generations got a chance to "waste" the capital and only the best part of 100 years later did the fragmented trust start releasing its much depleted capital. [Having been ravaged by inflation death duties and lack of effective management - in that order].

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Inheritance_Tax.jpg

In the present economic climate, it is very difficult to create any income that will protect the value of your trust, so your brother will face a conflict of interest as paying you income will disinherit his own daughters.

At least my great grandfather thought his grand children would inherit real money, that did not need to even say what it was and got created world wide at a rate of 11,000,000 a year, looking like this:



John.

PS Great Uncle died, apparently from overdosing his liver with alcohol, in the 1930s
Was the alcohol a reaction to finding himself a "remittance man", or was the "remittance man" status caused by the alcohol addiction?
Sadly I don't think I will ever know.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remittance_man

stuart2088_2

I fully understand what you say. The capital sum as i see it which is around £80000 for my interest will remain at that figure till my death.
I will receive the nominal income from that £80000 but as you say if i live another 30 years that £80000 will not be worth a great deal by then as it will not have grown.

A difficult one all round and i still suspect my father was poorly advised or had other ideas about what the end result would be.

In the last few days of his life he said to me well stuart you will not have to worry about having somewhere to live.

I did not question him about that but i feel he believed he had set up arrangements for me to reside in the family house as long as necessary.

Unfortunately i will never know what he meant by that comment.