Selling 50% of a house to pay for care home fees?

brigez

getmore4less wrote: »

You have to sort out what sort of trust it is.

Chances are you and your brother have no beneficial interest in the property.

You may be legal owners as trustees but don't own anything yourself.

As trustees you should know this already.

As trustees, we know very little. The trust was set up by my Mum 8 years ago, my Dad had already passed away. We are hoping to find out about our responsibilities from the solicitors that set the trust up when we have a trustees meeting (the first one since it was set up).

newbie1980

AnotherJoe wrote: »

I suspect they do, and that dad left his 50% to the brothers in his will, to protect half the house from care home fees.

this is how my mums house has been split and my dad has passed so mum only owns 50% now
they was told by the person doing the will that by doing this this would stop the care home fees as you cant sell 50% off a house

how this will be in reality if ever it comes to it i dont know

brigez

AnotherJoe wrote: »

What's his plan, stay there till the bailiffs come ? The house is going to be sold, he needs to face up to reality. If he doesn't, the authority will take legal action to kick him out and sell it which will cost both of you a chunk of money.

Yes I agree

brigez

AnotherJoe wrote: »

I suspect they do, and that dad left his 50% to the brothers in his will, to protect half the house from care home fees.

No, we don't and the trust was set up after my Dad passed away.

getmore4less

brigez wrote: »

No, we don't and the trust was set up after my Dad passed away.

How long after?
It may be a DOV was used to create the trust to protect the share.

All speculation untill you know what was done.

The history behind your brother living there will also be relevant.

Also get advice from experts in dealing with care costs.

getmore4less

AnotherJoe wrote: »

I suspect they do, and that dad left his 50% to the brothers in his will, to protect half the house from care home fees.

When a will trust is involved it is common for that be a life interest and if it had been(or created retrospective by DOV) the brothers would not own the share in the conventional sense of beneficial ownership.

xylophone

The trust was set up by my Mum 8 years ago,

Do you mean that your mother wholly owned the property and transferred it into a trust? She, you and your brother were Trustees and beneficiaries?

https://www.samconveyancing.co.uk/news/conveyancing/putting-a-property-into-trust-5116

It must also be borne in mind that if you need local authority nursing care, any gift made to a trust can be set aside if a local authority considers it was done deliberately to deprive yourself of assets.

brigez

getmore4less wrote: »

How long after?
It may be a DOV was used to create the trust to protect the share.

All speculation untill you know what was done.

The history behind your brother living there will also be relevant.

Also get advice from experts in dealing with care costs.

Dad died in 1994, trust was set up in 2011 by my Mum to reduce inheritance tax. Both my brother and me were aware of the trust but we are not aware of our legal responsibilities. The trustees meeting will hopefully set that straight and help us decide what is the right thing to do.

If the house needs to be sold in whole so be it, my brother will just have to realise what he needs to do.

In my original post I asked if anyone has sold 50% of a property before, as that is what the local authority are holding my Mum responsible for.

brigez

xylophone wrote: »

Do you mean that your mother wholly owned the property and transferred it into a trust? She, you and your brother were Trustees and beneficiaries?


It must also be borne in mind that if you need local authority nursing care, any gift made to a trust can be set aside if a local authority considers it was done deliberately to deprive yourself of assets.

Yes, I believe that is the situation here. The reason was to reduce inheritance tax and was done before my Mum became ill, she only went into care 7 years after the trust was set up so would be harsh to say it was deliberate deprivation of assets.

Mojisola

brigez wrote: »

Yes, I believe that is the situation here. The reason was to reduce inheritance tax and was done before my Mum became ill, she only went into care 7 years after the trust was set up so would be harsh to say it was deliberate deprivation of assets.

She was misled if she was told this would reduce IHT (I hope she didn't pay too much for such rotten advice!) - as she continued to live in the house without paying you two rent on your share, it was a gift with reservation and the whole value of the house will still be included in her estate.

As money has been spent on care home fees, the chances of her estate paying is much reduced now.