Title Deeds upon death

Greenie6

My grandmother has recently died and I'm sorting out the estate. On the title deeds of her house it only shows her name. Her husband (my grandfather) died in 1987 and left everything to her. I have obtained a copy of the deeds but it only says her name and refers back to 1963 when it was purchased. I would be extremely suprised if the house was only in her name back then, especially considering the era and getting a mortgage. Is there a way of proving that my grandads name was on the deeds as I suspect these were updated upon his death? This is important for inheritance tax as he left everything to her in his will and they were married for 45years until he died. My understanding is that his inheritance allowance (spouse) should pass to her but it's about proving this. thanks

Browntoa

https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

Land registry , if it shows only her name then it's still correct

Yorkshireman99

Greenie6 wrote: »

My grandmother has recently died and I'm sorting out the estate. On the title deeds of her house it only shows her name. Her husband (my grandfather) died in 1987 and left everything to her. I have obtained a copy of the deeds but it only says her name and refers back to 1963 when it was purchased. I would be extremely suprised if the house was only in her name back then, especially considering the era and getting a mortgage. Is there a way of proving that my grandads name was on the deeds as I suspect these were updated upon his death? This is important for inheritance tax as he left everything to her in his will and they were married for 45years until he died. My understanding is that his inheritance allowance (spouse) should pass to her but it's about proving this. thanks

Do you mean that you have purchased a copy of the Land Registry record? Have you got a copy of your grand dad's will?

Greenie6

Yes I have purchased a copy and it only shows her name. I have my grandads will and he leaves everything to her.

My concern is that if the house wasn't in his name too when they purchased it in 1963 then will his "spouse" allowance still pass on the value of the house. The value of the house is higher than the £325k allowance but under the combined allowance.

antrobus

Greenie6 wrote: »

My grandmother has recently died and I'm sorting out the estate. On the title deeds of her house it only shows her name. Her husband (my grandfather) died in 1987 and left everything to her. I have obtained a copy of the deeds but it only says her name and refers back to 1963 when it was purchased. I would be extremely suprised if the house was only in her name back then, especially considering the era and getting a mortgage. Is there a way of proving that my grandads name was on the deeds as I suspect these were updated upon his death? This is important for inheritance tax as he left everything to her in his will and they were married for 45years until he died. My understanding is that his inheritance allowance (spouse) should pass to her but it's about proving this. thanks

Who dealt with your grandfather's estate in 1987?

It is perfectly possible, of course, that the answer was no one, and so you would know that nothing would have changed. Normally, if title is unregistered, the deeds tell you almost everything, and show the chain of ownership.

P.S. My grandmother, who died in 1989, always held sole title to her home. Her husband who died in 1960 was never named on the deeds. So it's not that unusual.

Greenie6

Thanks Antrobus. Did you have issues with inheritance tax and allowances (although it's probably changed since).

My Gran was the executor of my Grandads will according to the record of probate. I wouldn't have thought she would have gone to the hassle of updating the deeds unless it was a requirement.

Keep_pedalling

Greenie6 wrote: »

Yes I have purchased a copy and it only shows her name. I have my grandads will and he leaves everything to her.

My concern is that if the house wasn't in his name too when they purchased it in 1963 then will his "spouse" allowance still pass on the value of the house. The value of the house is higher than the £325k allowance but under the combined allowance.

You have nothing to worry about, it's the allowance that is passed on even if the first partner to die had nothing then the second will still have the full £650k allowance. Usually people find the house is in the husbands name only, so in this case everything is simple.

Greenie6

That's a relief. Thanks 'keep pedalling'

antrobus

Greenie6 wrote: »

That's a relief. Thanks 'keep pedalling'

And what's more I think they're right.:)

I was thinking about this for some reason, and sort of half remembered that this transfer of a spouse's threshold wasn't contingent on them actually having any assets.

If someone’s estate is less than the Inheritance Tax threshold of £325,000, the remaining threshold can be transferred to their husband, wife or civil partner’s estate when they die - even if they remarried.
https://www.gov.uk/inheritance-tax/leaving-assets-spouse-civil-partner

So you still might have to find what was in grandad's probate in order to establish the "remaining threshold". Although if you are 100% sure everything went to grandma then none of the threshold would have been used.

antrobus

Greenie6 wrote: »

Thanks Antrobus. Did you have issues with inheritance tax and allowances (although it's probably changed since)....

The value of the property concerned was below the IHT threshold so that did not signify. There was an issue relating to the life interest, but I don't think that's relevant to you.:)