Joint Inheritance - Both Executors - One lives in the House

JaseyD

Hi

My Dad passed away recently leaving my Mother & my sibling. They both live in the house which I moved out of years ago, he never moved out.

In my Mother's will we are to inherit the house equally when she passes and we are both named executors in her will. The house is paid for and its market value is currently under the inheritance tax threshold which I think is £325k?

What I want to know is what will happen to the house when my Mother passes? My brother has lived there all of his life and he has said he would like to stay there, but there is no way he could afford to buy out my 50% share. He wouldn't be able to afford the mortgage (around £140k) even if he could get it. He's 56 this year and his income wouldn't be anywhere near enough for a mortgage of that size.

What other options are there?

Thank you.

silvercar

Is there an estate ie does your mother have any savings/ policies and/ or anything else (eg a car) that form part of the estate. Is it possible that your brother could keep the home by giving you the rest of the estate.

If there is no other option then you could rent your half of the house to your brother, either at half the market rent or a reduced rent for brotherly love.

The other option would be to sell.

Keep_pedalling

The sensible thing to do would be to sell up and your brother buy himself something smaller.

Does you mothers will contain a life interest clause for your brother?

Sea_Shell

Your mum needs to think carefully if the will specifies the property by address, as she may no longer own that specific asset when she dies. But if you are both the only beneficiaries of both the house and the residual estate, then that shouldn't be an issue.

However, if your brother refuses to sell, then you may have to go to court to force a sale, to realise your asset. It could get messy.

Edit - just seen the life interest query. Does will have one?

Sea_Shell

Just another thought....if your mum realises that your brother could be "evicted" by a forced sale, maybe she'll feel sorry for him and change her will to leave the whole house to your brother!!! So you might not want to rock the boat too much!!

ProDave

I faced this issue previously. though in my case it was my sister, and I had a 1/4 share of the house.

I was told it was impossible to sell my share to anyone else and very hard to persuade a co owner to sell if they don't want to.

In the end I settled for a lesser sum than 1/4 of the house value being the maximum my sister could raise with a mortgage. It was the only amicable solution.

In your case selling up and your brother moving to a smaller house sounds the best option. You need to start having that conversation to get him used to the idea.

Alternatively perhaps he needs to start saving like mad to build up a pot of money, Hopefully your mum has many more years so plenty of time to prepare.

I struggle to understand how someone 56 years old and still living in the parents home, so very low outgoings, has not already amassed a tidy sum in savings.

JaseyD

Thank you for the replies. The property is not specified by address in the will, just the estate of my Mother. I'm not sure about a life interest clause, how would that be worded? I don't recall anything to that effect, it is a very simple will. My Mother does have some savings & assets, but not a lot, maybe 20k at the most. My brother never left the family home, he has as you say had a life of low outgoings unlike the rest of us who eventually leave and stand on our own two feet financially. I think he has some savings, but again not a lot.

lincroft1710

ProDave wrote: »

I struggle to understand how someone 56 years old and still living in the parents home, so very low outgoings, has not already amassed a tidy sum in savings.

May have expensive drink, drug or gambling habit. May buy expensive cars which depreciate very quickly. May have low paid part time job only or have had long periods of unemployment.

da_rule

Depending when your mother passes, the decision may be taken out of your hands. If your brother cannot afford the mortgage (and you aren't willing to go on the mortgage) then the mortgage company may step in.

In terms of inheritance tax, if your father left his whole estate to your mother then she will have an inheritance tax allowance of up to £650k.

getmore4less

da_rule wrote: »

Depending when your mother passes, the decision may be taken out of your hands. If your brother cannot afford the mortgage (and you aren't willing to go on the mortgage) then the mortgage company may step in.

In terms of inheritance tax, if your father left his whole estate to your mother then she will have an inheritance tax allowance of up to £650k.

there is no mortgage

........
The house is paid for
..........

Keep_pedalling

da_rule wrote: »

Depending when your mother passes, the decision may be taken out of your hands. If your brother cannot afford the mortgage (and you aren't willing to go on the mortgage) then the mortgage company may step in.

In terms of inheritance tax, if your father left his whole estate to your mother then she will have an inheritance tax allowance of up to £650k.

The OP did not say the property is mortgaged, they were refering to the brother being able to aford a mortgage to buy out the OP.

On the up side at least the OPs mother is not living alone and will probably welcome her son being around in her latter years. it will also lower the chance that she will ever have to go into residential care.