Advice on Will

p00hsticks

johnD17 wrote: »

2) I don't see how she has any nil rate band if they aren't married? I thought nil rate band was only for married couples.

Every one gets a nil rate band allowance for IHT, in the same way that everyone has a personal income tax allowance and a personal capital gains tax allowance.

(There is an additional advantage for married couples in that the two individual allowances can effectively be added together on the second death if on the first death everything was left to the surviving spouse - this may be what has confused you)

johnD17

Oh sorry, you both mean the standard 325k. Yes aware of that, again though, as most items were solely in my dads name, the estate goes over this - and consequently the same items would pass to my mums sole name, therefore going over 325k in two instances.


What do you mean by "primary residence nil rate band"

Yorkshireman99

johnD17 wrote: »

Can I take your points in turn.


1) I'm angry at your comment - me and my mum are the closest anyone can be, she is angry that we have to pay IHT purely because they aren't married, despite being together for 38 years and despite my dad always planning for this day. It is her money, I don't need it. However I am loathe to pay X figure now for my dads hard earned money, to then also pay tax if anything happened to my mum ON THE SAME asset/money. They are not 'well off'; they are purely getting punished for not being married, and for having a place abroad.


2) I don't see how she has any nil rate band if they aren't married? I thought nil rate band was only for married couples.


All of this work has been left to me, its kept me awake and added stress onto the grief I've not yet gone through for weeks, and it is so frustrating to get no steer from the countless paid professionals I've sought advice from. The nil rate band is the one 'form' I did not think I would be completed, as my understanding was the nil rate band only applies to that of a married partner, if it was not used? Is that not the case?

Sadly your situation illustrates the tax advantages of getting married. Your parents could have taken professional advice and minimised the risk of IHT by marrying. Remember people are volunarily trying to help you. As I said before proper, paid for, professional advice should enable you to minimise future IHT for your mother and yourself. Choosing the right professional to advise you is crucial. A specialist in IHT planning is more liekly to be an accountant rather than a solicitor though the latter is likely to be need for you both to make new wills. Just complaining about things will achieve nothing. Try and get some personal recomendations rather than just choosing at random.

johnD17

Appreciate the above.


The frustration is that my Dad was aware of the situation and drafted the wills purposely - therefore the lack of helpfulness of the solics is a joke.


I have a family friend who is an IFA, a friend who is a newly qualified solics in Probate, have contacted Co-op legal services and met with a solics, have spoken with the solics who produced the will, and even phoned HMRC. I'm not sure a paid professional can help further, therefore my worry is paying for nothing, I'm sure you can appreciate that.


Perhaps it is as simple as - 1) there is IHT to pay on my dads Estate. 2) Estate pay out to my name which would mean my mums estate will not go over the nil rate band.


The frustration is I just want to talk to my Dad. If just one thing was done differently, there would be no tax to pay. I'm resigned to paying IHT now, but I've moved on to ensuring nothing is paid for my mum (as my dad would want me to fight this). He did seek out advice from the solics, and I'm sure they would have got married just for this purpose, if properly advised.


Perhaps he thought that IHT was payable on just the UK estate - again removing the overseas property means the estate is below the threshold. The Solics I met face to face, subsequently advised that IHT is only payable on UK assets.... I knew that this wasn't the case, and challenged this, and no concrete steer was provided - hence I declined to go down the route of paying £5k for them to incorrectly process probate....... Can you see why I'm nervous about paying ''experts''? All my life I have had to bridge the gap between useless professionals, and trying to educate myself in whichever field.

johnD17

Just read up on the new primary residence allocation (additional 100k allowance to Descendants, increasing each year ) does this mean that my mum's estate allocation (which will include the home property and my dad's assets) goes to 425k?

I note the wording around decendents - so perhaps it would be applicable I'm the future for my mum's estate, but not for my dad's(?) - I think it came in to effect after we lost my dad anyway as I remember reading up (literally came in a month after)

johnD17

Again addressing the above points - a chunk of the money is gifts within 7 years (inc. a chunk of money that my dad simply transferred to my mum's bank for godsake!) So this isn't "real money" - I suppose gifts from my dad won't be taken into account for my mum's estate so perhaps mum estate planning is a moot point?

It doesn't matter to us where my dad's money goes - she will ask me to invest it anyway.

leespot

johnD17 wrote: »

Appreciate the above.


The frustration is that my Dad was aware of the situation and drafted the wills purposely - therefore the lack of helpfulness of the solics is a joke.


I have a family friend who is an IFA, a friend who is a newly qualified solics in Probate, have contacted Co-op legal services and met with a solics, have spoken with the solics who produced the will, and even phoned HMRC. I'm not sure a paid professional can help further, therefore my worry is paying for nothing, I'm sure you can appreciate that.


Perhaps it is as simple as - 1) there is IHT to pay on my dads Estate. 2) Estate pay out to my name which would mean my mums estate will not go over the nil rate band.


The frustration is I just want to talk to my Dad. If just one thing was done differently, there would be no tax to pay. I'm resigned to paying IHT now, but I've moved on to ensuring nothing is paid for my mum (as my dad would want me to fight this). He did seek out advice from the solics, and I'm sure they would have got married just for this purpose, if properly advised.


Perhaps he thought that IHT was payable on just the UK estate - again removing the overseas property means the estate is below the threshold. The Solics I met face to face, subsequently advised that IHT is only payable on UK assets.... I knew that this wasn't the case, and challenged this, and no concrete steer was provided - hence I declined to go down the route of paying £5k for them to incorrectly process probate....... Can you see why I'm nervous about paying ''experts''? All my life I have had to bridge the gap between useless professionals, and trying to educate myself in whichever field.

Wait - there's property overseas? Which country is it in? I didn't know property abroad was classed as part of the IHT calculations.

johnD17

I'm getting hung up on where it's paid too however the above suggests this doesn't change inheritance ownership.

Ie. Money is paid to me as executor, I transfer to my mum's name - does this change ownership? Is this a gift from me to my mum?

johnD17

It's in Cyprus...

Well..... The solicitor I was going to pay 5k to U-turned on this 3 times (3 different contacts of his said different things, said it 'depends')- not sure it does as when I fill out the overseas assets IHT schedule it includes the value in the tax figure (and has no dependency on the country.. unless they give back a rebate)

Yorkshireman99

I appreciate your frustration but I can't really add much what I have already said. Ultimately you need to find a competent professional. You seem to have been particularly unfortunate with the ones you have used. There really is no substitute for a personal recommendation. The other thing you could try is see if there is a STEP member nearby. A consultation with one of them might clarify who might be suitable for to help you. A couple of hyndrejd pounds spent this way may be worthwhile. Alternatively many professionals offer a free 1/2 hour consultation to explore if they can suit your needs. Ask for references.