Deceased lived in house left in trust(?) 30 years ago -how to sell?

getmore4less

securityguy wrote: »

That isn't right. The house was owned by the trust, and is still owned by the trust: it's not part of her estate, because it was never part of her assets. Her estate is no more liable for IHT on the house than had she been renting a council house. The trust can now be wound up, because its purpose (providing a house for the now-deceased) is over, and its assets can be distributed to the remaindermen.

There may well be (and this is why you need legal advice) a CGT liability on the part of the trust.

In any event, it doesn't matter what the IHT position is, because a house of £150K and a small amount of cash is nowhere near the threshold of IHT.

you need to update your understanding of how IHT works with an "interest in possession" and "immediate post-death interest"

There were changes in 2006.

TBagpuss

If you check the original grant of probate you can see the name of the specifc solicitor who was appointed as executor. You can then check via the Law Society whether they are still in practice or not (probably not, after 30 years, but possible). If not, then the other executor may need to find out whether they have died or not, and what the will says about apointment a replacement trustee.

The remaining executor / trustee will have to deal with the matter - but they can instruct asolicitor to do the leal work. That solicitor would not become a trustee or executor but they could do the heavy lifting, as it were.

securityguy

getmore4less wrote: »

you need to update your understanding of how IHT works with an "interest in possession" and "immediate post-death interest"

There were changes in 2006.

Which don't affect assets transferred into trusts before that date.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/trusts-and-inheritance-tax#dealing-with-a-trust-when-someone-dies

Interest in possession trusts

These are trusts where the beneficiary is entitled to trust income as it’s produced - this is called their ‘interest in possession’.

On assets transferred into this type of trust before 22 March 2006, there’s no Inheritance Tax to pay.

This is a thirty year old trust, so the issue doesn't arise.

getmore4less

securityguy wrote: »

Which don't affect assets transferred into trusts before that date.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/trusts-and-inheritance-tax#dealing-with-a-trust-when-someone-dies

This is a thirty year old trust, so the issue doesn't arise.

your quoted bit does not exist on that page where did you get it from?

This is what that page says .....

An interest in possession trust is one where the beneficiary is entitled to only the income from a trust. When they die, there are certain circumstances where the value of this ‘interest in possession’ is calculated as part of their estate. These include when the trust:

was set up before 22 March 2006
was set up after 22 March 2006 and was either an ‘immediate post death interest’.....

the relevent legislation(modified by 2006) is..

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/51/part/III/chapter/II

securityguy

My apologies. The quote came from here:

https://www.gov.uk/trusts-taxes/trusts-and-inheritance-tax

On the URL I quoted, the same information is in the third heading down, "Relevant Property".

Relevant property
Assets in a trust such as money, shares, houses or land are known as ‘relevant property’. Most property held in trusts counts as relevant property. Inheritance Tax may be due on the assets held within a trust when:

they are transferred out of a trust (exit charges)
a 10-year anniversary occurs
The only exceptions to this rule are when the asset is:

in an interest in possession trust and it was put there before 22 March 2006
subject to a ‘transitional serial interest’ made between 22 March 2006 and 5 October 2008
put into an interest in possession trust by the terms of a will or the rules of intestacy
set aside for a disabled person
set aside for a bereaved minor
put into an age ‘18 to 25 trust’

getmore4less

That is the trust taxes for property exiting the trust.

The trust is exempt because the person with the interest has died and their estate is liable.

dunroving

I just wanted to say thanks for the replies. We have been busy dealing with the funeral and so haven't had much time to get on the net to respond previously. We are still waiting to hear from the original solicitors, who apparently have moved their wills department to Sheffield.

If the specific solicitor (person) has retired, would the company still be the default executor? Or would that be up to the other surviving executor (relative)?

The question of who the property is registered to is an interesting one. The purchase of the house was ongoing at the time the original deceased (my father) died. I wonder if it would have been registered to the trust? I know the recently deceased (my step-mother) put the house up for sale many years ago and the solicitors stepped in to advise her the property wasn't registered in her name.

Yorkshireman99

dunroving wrote: »

I just wanted to say thanks for the replies. We have been busy dealing with the funeral and so haven't had much time to get on the net to respond previously. We are still waiting to hear from the original solicitors, who apparently have moved their wills department to Sheffield.

If the specific solicitor (person) has retired, would the company still be the default executor? Or would that be up to the other surviving executor (relative)?

The question of who the property is registered to is an interesting one. The purchase of the house was ongoing at the time the original deceased (my father) died. I wonder if it would have been registered to the trust? I know the recently deceased (my step-mother) put the house up for sale many years ago and the solicitors stepped in to advise her the property wasn't registered in her name.

It depends on the exact wording of the will. Often, but not always, the firm will be named rather than an individual staff member.

dunroving

The will named a specific solicitor in the firm, who no longer works for them (retired I think). So I think we are back to needing the other executor to act, maybe by instructing another solicitor.