How easy is it for my dad to pass his share of the house to me?

xylophone

If the house is currently owned as joint tenants, your father could choose simply to sever the joint tenancy.

https://www.gov.uk/joint-property-ownership/change-from-joint-tenants-to-tenants-in-common

It is not a good idea to become involved in your parents' marital problems.

Do you envisage living with your father for the rest of your life?

Is it time for you to buy a home of your own, leaving your parents to sort out their financial affairs?

Tom99

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]I would suggest your father severs the joint tenancy, if there is one, and writes a will leaving everything to you.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Transferring his half of the house to you now sounds a recipe for unexpected problems, not least your father's future housing needs.[/FONT]

AdrianC

invisibility wrote: »

With regards to why, it's sort of complicated but my parents' marriage is poor and my mum keeps threatening to leave. My dad really doesn't want to sell the house, he wants to stay but he couldn't afford to buy her half

So he wants to own a house he can't afford. Life ain't like that.

and also if he died then she would get 100% of the house and he doesnt want that either.

So change it from joint tenants to tenants-in-common, and he can leave his 50% to you on his death.

If she wants a divorce his thoughts were that if I had his half of the house then it would be harder for her to sell - I'd want to buy her half essentially.

And if she doesn't want to sell?

This is a trainwreck in progress. Your father is trying to drag you in on his side.

The best outcome is that you end up buying your mother's half amicably, and simply remain living with your father. Do you REALLY want that? Do you have zero ambition for a life of your own? Can you even afford to buy it?

The worst possible outcome is that both your father and mother end up blaming you for it all going pear-shaped when the inevitable happens and there's no way to avoid selling.



And why is he so against her owning it? Just to spite her? He can't afford it.

Someone mentioned asset sharing following divorce though - does this mean she would be entitled to my half if they divorced?

No, if YOU get divorced or into debt or want to buy a property elsewhere...

This is basically what we are trying to avoid. I really need to just go to a solicitor with my dad and tell them what our aims are.

Hold on... These are your father's aims, not yours. Your father needs to man up and stop dragging you into his marital woes. Making children choose and take sides between the parents in a divorce NEVER works out well.

I live with them by the way.

Currently. But do you really want to do that until the end of your father's days?

If your father needs residential care in the future, this will be deemed as deprivation of assets. If he dies within the next seven years, then it will be seen as within his estate for IHT (on a sliding scale) - but would his estate be within IHT anyway?

TBagpuss

Well, it could be taken into account as behaviour (conduct) on your dad's part, if they did divorce - in effect a court could decide to treat it as though your dad still still owned his half, to avoid him having an unfair advantage.
And if he just transferred his share to you without you paying for it, it might be determined that he was still the beneficial owner, and you were simply holding it for him on trust.

Your mum could still force a sale of the house if she wanted to, the mechanism would be different to the process if it were sold as part of a divorce settlement (and potentially much more expensive for you, if you resisted a sale)

You might do better to wait and see what happens, and if they do separate, you can at that time, if you want, lend your dad money to allow him to buy your mum's interest, or offer to buy it yourself so that you and your dad become joint owners. (or you and your mum, if that's what you prefer at the time)

Finally, how comfortable are you with the ethics of this? On the face of it, it looks as though your dad is trying to get out of having to be fair to your mother if they divorce. Do you really want to get involved in that?

If you dad wants to pursue this, I'd suggest that you tell him that *he* needs to get some legal advice about it, and that he needs to cover the cost of you getting separate, independent advice about what the implications and risk would be for you, before you make any decisions.

trailingspouse

Generally both parties would be entitled to 50% of the house - that's the starting point. It's not got anything to do with who is to 'blame' for a marriage breaking up, or who is nice and who isn't. If your father is wanting to make a case for him getting more than 50% then he needs to have very good reason.
Why would you not want your mother to have what she's entitled to?