Probate and tenants in common

Yorkshireman99

3figures wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. I don't know about the land registry entry so would have to look at that. My MIL actually thought that her husband's will had been written so that his half of the house had been left to their two sons - advice they were given some years ago to avoid it being counted as an asset should there be a need later for care home fees etc. That was the reason they were advised to sever the joint tenancy and we have the signed document confirming the severance. When we found the will, he had in fact left everything to her (think they may have been victims of a will writing company in drawing up their new wills) . MIL is the sole executor of the will.

She wants to avoid probate for tricky family reasons - my MIL and FIL have for years been funding one of their sons (brother in law) as he chose not to work and they don't want my husband to know how much he has been given (gifted) over the past 7 years as it is a substantial amount (my husband has always known this was going on but not the scale of it). We offered to do the probate but she doesn't want us to know the figures. So she could avoid doing probate until she wants to sell or until she dies and we do both (what a potential headache!)? The solicitor she consulted said she didn't need probate at all so I am a little confused.

If the solicitor has given her advice then she should follow it. However, you may have a mess to sort out when she dies. One point not touched on is that these schemes used to avoid care home fees are almost always a con and don't work.

getmore4less

Getting probate would not disclose the level of gifts unless she wants to.

If her estate will remain under £325k there won't be a need for the transferable nil rate band so she could make moves to keep the details secret even after her death.

Severed joint tenancy and transferring the asset to other works fine to protect an asset from care fees for a surviving joint owner.
Might still ne needed to pay for quality care by choice of new owner.