Inheritance tax

hermionewilson

'...to live presumably...' - yes. Apparently nursing home fees (if needed at some time...) are very high.

It's good to know the position on these issues to help her understanding, which was the aim at the start of the thread.

As it happens, it is certainly the case I have learnt other things at the same time as finding out about her position (as one poster suggested...more comes out of this enquiry than I'd foreseen). That apart from IHT not being in the equation for her (which would have reduced what she now receives...), if anything should get left for us children in the fullness of time, then IHT is not going to need to be paid on it by us either, due to the existence of the exemption band. (My understanding at the start of the thread, which there are good reasons for, was very different.) If the exemption band would theoretically be double for children in our position, that's interesting but I can't see it being relevant to our case ultimately, as if anything gets left our way it is going to be pretty tiny. (Repaying a part-value mortgage on the house value - forgot to mention this - is one thing that is going to reduce Ma's cash now.)

Mojisola

hermionewilson wrote: »

if anything should get left for us children in the fullness of time, then IHT is not going to need to be paid on it by us either, due to the existence of the exemption band.

It's the deceased's estate that pays the inheritance tax, not the beneficiaries.

Savvy_Sue

hermionewilson wrote: »

'...to live presumably...' - yes. Apparently nursing home fees (if needed at some time...) are very high.

But that's an 'if' needed: it's a far lower percentage of people actually need to go into a nursing home than we generally assume.

zygurat789

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

But that's an 'if' needed: it's a far lower percentage of people actually need to go into a nursing home than we generally assume.

And the average length of stay is not that long either.

troubleinparadise

OP - you might find the following links to the HMRC guide to Inheritance Tax useful to explain it a little more:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/inheritancetax/understand/index.htm

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/inheritancetax/intro/basics.htm