Leaving house shares to charity?

JustAmy

Hi all - first time poster!

I'm looking for advice on a matter that's started to arise between my mother and aunt. They currently hold (what I believe) is equal share in a house - the home I currently live in with my mum and brother. My aunt lives elsewhere.

We're trying to plan ahead and sort out my mum's will. She wants to leave her share of the house to my sister and myself. Ideally, we would like my aunt to leave her share to one of us, and my mum leave her share to the other, so that in the end, my sister and I would have equal share in the property.

It's starting to come to light that we are extremely unsure and in the dark about my aunt's intentions, and we think she could end up leaving her share to charity.

What happens in this instance? Would my sister and I have to sell the house?

My mum would ideally like my sister and I to have full, shared ownership of the house, rather than a three way split with my aunt (who is around 10 years younger than my mum).

We understand it's for my aunt to do with as she wishes, I just don't understand how leaving a share of a property would work.

Any information on this is greatly appreciated! Sorry for the rambling.

Keep_pedalling

Sounds horribly complex, could you not simplify things by buying your aunt out?

You also say you live with your brother, but you mother wants to leave her share to you and your sister, so why does he not get a share?

JustAmy

Thank you for your reply Keep pedalling.

Unfortunately we're not in a financial position to buy her out, and she has stated she's keeping her share - so she probably wouldn't let us buy her out.

My brother won't get a share for reasons I don't want to go into detail about.

Keep_pedalling

In that case your mother should compose her will on the asumtion that your aunt will do her own thing. Even if she did agree, it would be foolish for your mother to make he will on the assumption that you aunt would stick to that agreement.

It sounds like the chances of holding on to the house after your aunt's demise are slim, and she could actually force a sale anytime she wished if she suddenly had a need for the money.

SuzieSue

JustAmy wrote: »

My brother won't get a share for reasons I don't want to go into detail about.

When your mother makes a will, she also needs to attach a letter saying exactly why she does not want him to have a share in her estate. Otherwise he can contest the will.

jackieblack

Do your mum and aunt own the house as joint tenants or tenants in common?
https://www.gov.uk/joint-property-ownership/overview

TBagpuss

Your mum need to double check tat she and her sister own that house as tenants in common, not as joint tenants, as otherwise the house would automatically pass to your aunt if you mum dies first. (if they own as joint tenants at present, she can sever the joint tenancy so they become tenants in common)

Your mum should, as others have said, assume that her sister won't or might not, leave anything to you or your sister, so she may wish to leave her interest in the house to the two of you equally.

When she passes, you can then either:
- agree with your aunt that the house is sold, and each take your respective share, or
-your aunt could potentially agree to let you carry on living there, (either free or is you pay her rent for her share)
- Either you / your sister (if you inherit your mum's share), or your aunt, could force a sale of the house.

If, at that time, you and your sister are able to buy out your aunt's share then she may be prepared to sell to you at that point.

JustAmy

Thank you for all the previous advice everyone.

They're tenants in common. That's why we're unsure what would happen if she did leave her share to a charity. Is that even possible to do with a share?

We can figure out things as we go along, we're just curious to know what the legal standing of leaving a share in a house to charity is, and as mentioned before - if it means my sister and I would be forced to sell our shares in the house etc.

p00hsticks

JustAmy wrote: »

Thank you for all the previous advice everyone.

They're tenants in common. That's why we're unsure what would happen if she did leave her share to a charity. Is that even possible to do with a share?

Yes it is - that's the whole point of 'tenants in common' - it enables more than one person to each own shares of a property and leave their share to whoever they want to in their will.

If your aunt dies before your mum and does leave her share of the property to charity, then it would be up to your mum to negotiate with the charity as to what happens; the most obvious options would be either for the property to be sold and the proceeds split between your mum and the charity or for someone (you or your mum) to buy out the charities share of the property

The charity could well expect your mum to pay rent to them for their share of the property whist the estate is dealt with.

Keep_pedalling

JustAmy wrote: »

Thank you for all the previous advice everyone.

They're tenants in common. That's why we're unsure what would happen if she did leave her share to a charity. Is that even possible to do with a share?

We can figure out things as we go along, we're just curious to know what the legal standing of leaving a share in a house to charity is, and as mentioned before - if it means my sister and I would be forced to sell our shares in the house etc.

You can leave a share of a property to anyone you like. A charity will almost certainly want to liquidate their bequest ASAP, and if you were unable or unwilling to purchase their share, then they would want a sale, and if you refused to sell, they would force a sale.

Malthusian

SuzieSue wrote: »

When your mother makes a will, she also needs to attach a letter saying exactly why she does not want him to have a share in her estate. Otherwise he can contest the will.

He can contest the Will anyway, but a properly written letter may reduce his chance of winning.

Have you looked into life insurance? If you had an insurance policy on your aunt equivalent to her share of the house, then on her death you would buy out her share with the proceeds and the proceeds would go to her chosen charity - everybody gets what they wants. Her age may make it prohibitive to arrange this now, but as I don't know her age or your incomes it's worth mentioning.