Would this be feasible?

Jacko120

My granddad's currently 84, still fit and healthy but he's getting more forgetful with bills and appointments etc..

My mums currently having to sort everything out but the distance is a bit too far to be travelling on a regular basis. A care home is out the option because he enjoys cycling, gardening and has classical cars which need to be stored.

The ideal solution would be to both sell up and purchase a large house with lots of space so they can still do their own things. No mortgage would be needed.

Would this be feasible if anything happened to my granddad, especially with inheritance tax. Would my mum potentially lose the house or end up with an large tax bill?

Hoploz

I'm not an expert, but some kind of trust could be set up so one would be able to stay in the house after the death of the other

Dr._Shoe

IIRC if a house is jointly owned the the title automatically passes to the co-owner. I think you would still have to pay inheritance tax if the figure exceeds the tax free threshold. However, the law is different when the person is elderly or infirm and the co-owner is a primary carer. I'm not entirely sure what the law is though.

troubleinparadise

Your mum and grandad could buy a property and then own it as "tenants in common".

They would need legal advice individually as to whether this is the right thing for them to do, and the best way of setting out their co-ownership.

A few hundred £s spent on good legal advice would be their best action right now, and would be a small drop in the much more expensive £100k they might be spending on a joint property.

An explanation of tenants in common:

https://www.gov.uk/joint-property-ownership/overview

TBagpuss

They would need to take advice and to ensure that the details of any shared ownership were very clearly spelled out. One issue would be consider what would happen if your granddad's health deteriorated to the point where he did need to be cared for in a home - while it might be possible to protect your mum from losing the house it might be at the risk of your grandad having less choice about where to go and whether he could afford the best care.

Another option might be to consider selling up and buying separate properties close to each other. One option to consider might be to see whether your mum could buy a property with space for you grandad to store his cars and bikes, and for your granddad to have a smaller property close by.

s your mum the only child? if not, then your grand-dad might be anxious to ensure that anything he leaves is shared which might make it impractical for them to buy a property together and *not* have to sell it on his death.

Hoploz

Tbagpuss raises some points which make the trust idea preferable. His 50% share (or whatever) would be held in trust while the other party remained in the house and it could then be split between stakeholders at a later date