my parents house and bankruptcy

blokes2

Hi all,
I have been advsed by many sources that if i go bankrupt , i should ask my father not to leave me anything in his will, at the moment i have no assets but eventually i would get half my parents house with my sister. if he leaves everything to my sister, at least for the term of the bankruptcy, if my father changed the will again in say three years, would i have to give the house up .

also if it was in my sisters sole name, could she add a clause that her husband dosent get half of my half, if that makes sense
thanks

BobQ

If you inherit after you have been declared bankrupt and before your bankruptcy is discharged you are required in law to inform the trustee of the bankruptcy and they have 42 days to make a claim on those "after acquired assets". You may make a claim that you should be allowed to keep part of it but its difficult to see what sort of case you would have in this situation.

If he leaves everything to your sister and he dies then the property is hers to do as she wishes. He could seek advice from a solicitor as to whether he can leave the money in a protective trust (or a discretionary trust) which would essentially mean that you do not own the property but could benefit from the trust in the future (when you are discharged).

Provided you father does not put the house into a trust he can change his will at any time and decide what happens to his house.

Your sister could will her house (or one she had inherited) to whoever she wants although it could be subject to a claim from her husband if she did and they had not divorced. But if your father left the house in a discretionary trust then the trustee could have discretion to give the house to the beneficiaries (you and her) whenever they choose or whenever a particular condition applies (eg after she is divorced and you discharged).

Trusts need professional advice to set them up and can be inflexible if circumstances change.

blokes2

thanks for the advice. How long do i have after the bankruptcy order before they cannot take any assets i inherit

BobQ

blokes2 wrote: »

thanks for the advice. How long do i have after the bankruptcy order before they cannot take any assets i inherit

As I understand it they can make a claim at any time until the discharge date which is set by the bankruptcy trustee. Usually its set automatically to be 12 months after the bankruptcy order, but it can take longer if for example you are considered to be trying to hide something.

I am not a solicitor so there may be simpler ways for your father to do what he wants to do.

But, if you were my son (based on what you have said) I would make a will leaving your share of the estate to a discretionary trust and ask the trustees to invest it and the income for 5 years after which you become the sole beneficiary but with the discretion to pay you all or part of it earlier if they deemed you to be financially solvent.

Of course this all assumes that he does not need to fund care home fees!

slickric1234

my uncle whos been married for 40 years for some reason made my aunt sign that an inheritance he got was his money and his alone... no idea why

the tight git
she raised their 3 children and has been with him for 45 years
everything else jointly owned

in a will you can leave whoever you like whatever you choose
however if that person is married i dont know if that automatically becomes marital shared property should you ever divorce

flip the question say you were married wifes parents die
they leave her money in a will
seems a little unfair if that money could be raided to pay off your bankruptcy

if my bankrupted child had children of their own id be pretty tempted to bypass the bankrupt in my will and leave the money to grandchildren as university funds that couldnt be touched til they were 18 with a string of conditions attatched to make sure it isnt touched

BobQ

slickric1234 wrote: »

my uncle whos been married for 40 years for some reason made my aunt sign that an inheritance he got was his money and his alone... no idea why

the tight git
she raised their 3 children and has been with him for 45 years
everything else jointly owned

in a will you can leave whoever you like whatever you choose
however if that person is married i dont know if that automatically becomes marital shared property should you ever divorce

flip the question say you were married wifes parents die
they leave her money in a will
seems a little unfair if that money could be raided to pay off your bankruptcy

if my bankrupted child had children of their own id be pretty tempted to bypass the bankrupt in my will and leave the money to grandchildren as university funds that couldnt be touched til they were 18 with a string of conditions attatched to make sure it isnt touched

Your dinosaur of an uncle would soon find that this document she signed had no legal status I suspect were they to divorce since it could be claimed as a marital asset.

Obviously leaving it to someone else who is not bankrupt has its benefits but students and financial responsibility do not necessarily go hand in hand. Leaving it to a third party in a discretionary trust will meet the father's intentions.

blokes2

thanks everybody. Bob, i would not be interested in the cash part of my share of the house, i want to continue living there as my home. my fathers will says that while i still need a roof then the house will not be sold, only when its sold does the inheritance split