Inheritance and Property advice (Scotland)

Vivienne1

My husband died in early May. I haven't applied for confirmation yet as so far we haven't needed it. There wasn't a will and there wasn't a lot in the estate.

I was named beneficiary on both the life insurance and his pension so the monies were paid to me without it. The insurance was tied to the mortage so that has been cleared off and I have paid an outstanding debt. The other, his credit card, is covered by insurance and is being processed. There is one other matter of a catalogue for around £400 with a debt collector but I'm not sure if they will speak to me as it's pre our marriage.

The main issue is the property. As his wife it should be mine but I dont want it for various reasons. The main one being I dont want my daughter to have to go through all this when I die so we thought it would be easier if I did a deed of variation and the property is registered in her name.

I was just wondering would we need to get confirmation from the court before that happened. Would the fact I have an outstanding debt of £900 prevent it? (currently not being paid as amount is disputed) And finally what do I do about his debt with the debt collector? It is years old and I only found out about it by accident going through papers. Should I wait til they contact us?

gettingtheresometime

I don't know the ins & outs of your question but the one thing that does strike me is that it is so early days for you in the whole grieving process, I would urge caution before you decided on anything so drastic.


I think you have 2 years to do a DOV but I'm not even sure you can do one given there wasn't a will.


Be kind to yourself and sympathies for your loss.

Keep_pedalling

It would be very foolish to do this. The house is your security, if your daughter ran into debt, was involved in a divorce or pre deceased you you could find yourself homeless.

The other issue is if later in life you needed residential care it would be regarded as deprivation of assets, this would cause your daughter a lot more issues than the fairly simple matter of administering a straight forward estate.

As for the dept, if your husband has not made any payments or acknowledged the dept in the last 5 years it is now time barred so does not need to be repaid

Mojisola

Vivienne1 wrote: »

As his wife it should be mine but I dont want it for various reasons. The main one being I dont want my daughter to have to go through all this when I die so we thought it would be easier if I did a deed of variation and the property is registered in her name.

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

I don't know the ins & outs of your question but the one thing that does strike me is that it is so early days for you in the whole grieving process, I would urge caution before you decided on anything so drastic.

I second this, very strongly.

It's not a good idea to make major decisions so soon after a death if it can be avoided.

Your daughter will manage to sort out your estate (hopefully a good few years in the future) - giving away your main asset to try to avoid some paperwork isn't wise.

Be kind to yourself while you grieve and think about it again next year.

Vivienne1

Thanks for the replies. You are probably right about timing. I've kind of panicked thinking I need to sort everything out right away and maybe it will make me feel a bit better. Truth is nothing will, I'm heartbroken.

The other issue would be my debt, if they found out I was entitled to inherit the property would they force a sale?

The suggestion from a friend was just to leave it in my husband's name til I die as I'm never going to sell it.

MovingForwards

My condolences.

You wouldn't be forced to sell for £900 debt.

Concentrate on adjusting, grieving and finding your feet.

If you need any more guidance several members will be able to make recommendations.

Keep_pedalling

Vivienne1 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. You are probably right about timing. I've kind of panicked thinking I need to sort everything out right away and maybe it will make me feel a bit better. Truth is nothing will, I'm heartbroken.

The other issue would be my debt, if they found out I was entitled to inherit the property would they force a sale?

The suggestion from a friend was just to leave it in my husband's name til I die as I'm never going to sell it.

You could only be forced to do that if your creditors made you bankrupt. For that to happen your outstanding debts would have to exceed £5000.

If you want good advice on debt contact National Debt Line, rather than rely on suggestions from friends.

https://www.nationaldebtline.org/

TcpnT

All advice about the house makes very good sense.

However bear in mind that, assuming that the title includes a survivorship clause (equivalent of joint tenants in England), the property has effectively passed to you already. Confirmation is not required. I was advised by a solicitor and the Land Registry of Scotland that it is not necessary to update the title in this situation. The change can be left until you sell the house or it passes to your daughter under your will. All that is required is a copy of your husbands death certificate at that time in the future.

So as advised do nothing for now. If you wish you can change the title in the future but there is no necessity to do so.

Vivienne1

TcpnT wrote: »

All advice about the house makes very good sense.

However bear in mind that, assuming that the title includes a survivorship clause (equivalent of joint tenants in England), the property has effectively passed to you already. Confirmation is not required. I was advised by a solicitor and the Land Registry of Scotland that it is not necessary to update the title in this situation. The change can be left until you sell the house or it passes to your daughter under your will. All that is required is a copy of your husbands death certificate at that time in the future.

So as advised do nothing for now. If you wish you can change the title in the future but there is no necessity to do so.

Hi thanks for the reply. How would I know if there is a survivorship clause? I have the deeds here and but didn't know where to look. I'm not sure there will be one though as we weren't married at the time of purchase only living together. We married three years after we moved in.

TcpnT

You just need to look at the line where it describes the owner(s) of the property. I can't tell you the exact wording but it will include something like "Husband name and Wife name or the survivor of. If the "survivor of" part is not there then the ownership is the Scottish equivalent of Tenants in Common. In this case your husbands half would pass by will or intestacy and not automatically. If there is only one name then the house was not owned jointly at all.
Bear in mind that if you have old paper deeds it may be that the Land Registry holds a more up to date version of the title in which case you would need to check with them.

Vivienne1

TcpnT wrote: »

You just need to look at the line where it describes the owner(s) of the property. I can't tell you the exact wording but it will include something like "Husband name and Wife name or the survivor of. If the "survivor of" part is not there then the ownership is the Scottish equivalent of Tenants in Common. In this case your husbands half would pass by will or intestacy and not automatically. If there is only one name then the house was not owned jointly at all.
Bear in mind that if you have old paper deeds it may be that the Land Registry holds a more up to date version of the title in which case you would need to check with them.

Thanks. I found the section and there is no survivorship clause, he's named as proprietor.

I take it I will now need to get confirmation. House is worth around £90,000, Does anyone have a rough idea of how much a confirmation through a solicitors would cost, I could only find figures for small estates?