Mum just asked me if she is allowed to gift us money

Savvy_sewing

I took my Mum, aged 81, to a hospital appointment today, and over lunch she asked me if she could give some of her savings etc to my self, and siblings, before she dies.
She has around £70,000 in savings as far as I can tell, plus of course she owns her house that is valued around £230,000 at the moment.
She said she has been looking at inheritance tax and is worried that she will have “too much “
Are there any rules about this

Yorkshireman99

Mooloo wrote: »

I took my Mum, aged 81, to a hospital appointment today, and over lunch she asked me if she could give some of her savings etc to my self, and siblings, before she dies.
She has around £70,000 in savings as far as I can tell, plus of course she owns her house that is valued around £230,000 at the moment.
She said she has been looking at inheritance tax and is worried that she will have “too much “
Are there any rules about this

her estate is not going to pay IHT unless her total estate is more than £325,000 and more if she leaves to her children. gifts given up to seven years before death get added back to the estate. the main problem is if she needs care in future but given the house value that should no be an issue.

Catswhiska

If she ever needs social care it will be seen as deprivation of assets

Yorkshireman99

Maybe but only if it can be proved that the need for care was predictable. In any case there is still plenty of value in the house so it is not relevant.

Margot123

Can I ask if your Mum is a widow? If so, and her husband's allowance wasn't used, then the IHT threshold is doubled to £650,000. So, even if she was much wealthier it would make no difference.

As for deprivation of assets, as YM99 says, this is irrelevant as there is enough capital in the house, and that will only increase in value.

Keep_pedalling

It would be a nice thing for her to be able to provide a nice gift to her loved ones. As has already been said her estate is outside IHT territory and way outside it if she is a widow so she does not need to worry about that, but she does need to hang on to a good portion of her assets for emergencies and to treat herself now and again.

Has she got an up to date will in place? If not that should be a priority along with lasting powers of attorney to cover the possibility of her becoming in unable to manage her own affairs at some point in the future.

melanzana

I am not in UK now. IHT is different here, it is paid by the beneficiary if they exceed a certain amount.

I don't care, I am not spending ages tax planning or whatever. I just want those I love to know that I have given them something and thought of them.

They can sort out their own taxes!

Apologies if that came across badly. But really unless you are uber wealthy it will be all ok.

Savvy_sewing

Margot123 wrote: »

Can I ask if your Mum is a widow? If so, and her husband's allowance wasn't used, then the IHT threshold is doubled to £650,000. So, even if she was much wealthier it would make no difference.

As for deprivation of assets, as YM99 says, this is irrelevant as there is enough capital in the house, and that will only increase in value.

Dad died 2 1/2 years ago.
Mum got a clean bill of health at the hospital so no reason why she won’t live for many years to come yet!

Savvy_sewing

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

It would be a nice thing for her to be able to provide a nice gift to her loved ones. As has already been said her estate is outside IHT territory and way outside it if she is a widow so she does not need to worry about that, but she does need to hang on to a good portion of her assets for emergencies and to treat herself now and again.

Has she got an up to date will in place? If not that should be a priority along with lasting powers of attorney to cover the possibility of her becoming in unable to manage her own affairs at some point in the future.

She has ISA’s, and 3 separate bonds, and the holiday fund, plus several £k in her current account so we encourage her to treat herself and then move anything over £3k into the bonds or holiday fund s if funds creep up!

Yes she has a will, and in February when my brother comes over from France she is planning on seeing the solicitor and checking it’s still relevant. We both have power over her estate if needed, and both are executors to the will. Although my sister doesn’t as she is not as able to get hear to deal with things as I am.