Transferring a property and MIL

lookstraightahead

Hello

My father in law died six years ago and my mother in law is now terminally ill. They never had a mortgage on their property and the deeds were kept with a local solicitors who I think still exists, so she has asked me to get a copy of the deeds (not even sure if this is possible)..

As the property would automatically pass to her I don't recall ever doing anything with the deeds when my father in law died, so they are probably still in joint names. Should this have been done at the time of his death? There was never a mortgage on the property.

Thank you.

Browntoa

Check the title at the land registry. It's a simple form to transfer

lookstraightahead

Thank you. Should it be transferred to her now before she dies - should we have done this years ago?

TcpnT

If the property was held as Joint tenants it has effectively passed to MIL already. The legal title just needs to be updated. You could easily do this now but equally I think it could be dealt with by the solicitor / conveyancer when the property is sold.

If however it was held as tenants in common the situation could be more complicated.

-What is the value of the property?
-Did FIL leave a will or not?

Mojisola

lookstraightahead wrote: »

My father in law died six years ago and my mother in law is now terminally ill. They never had a mortgage on their property and the deeds were kept with a local solicitors

Browntoa wrote: »

Check the title at the land registry. It's a simple form to transfer

It's possible that the property isn't registered with the LR.

lisyloo

Might be worth paying £3 to get the LR info as it will answer all the questions above.

My FIL does last April (MiL is nursing home) and we sold the property in February. I passed the death certificate to the conveyancing solicitor for the sale. It was dealt with at the same time as the sale so I don’t think its an issue if joint tenants.

It might be worth just checking if it joint tenants which you can do by paying the £3.

The solicitors might (should) was a power of attorney or some other authority to give you a copy of your mother’s deeds. They should not just hand out someone else’s information so might be easiest just to hand over the £3 unless they are local and you have PoA.

lookstraightahead

HI all thank you for your help.

My FIL did have a will leaving everything to my MIL - but no idea what the deeds say )no idea whether joint tenants or tenants in common).

My husband (her son) has POA for her financial matters (they have just done this).

Will try to gather as much info as possible.

Thank you

The house is worth about £250k.

pphillips

If the house is jointly owned you'll see both names on the register of title.

If the house if owned as tenants in common you'll see both names on the register of title with the following restriction:

"No disposition by a sole proprietor of the registered estate (except a trust corporation) under which capital money arises is to be registered unless authorised by an order of the court."

getmore4less

TcpnT wrote: »

If the property was held as Joint tenants it has effectively passed to MIL already. The legal title just needs to be updated. You could easily do this now but equally I think it could be dealt with by the solicitor / conveyancer when the property is sold.

If however it was held as tenants in common the situation could be more complicated.

-What is the value of the property?
-Did FIL leave a will or not?

TIC makes no difference it is a tiny bit more difficult as you need an extra person to act as trustee on second death.

……....

Check if it registered, if not it can be worth looking at doing it while one owner is living in case something needs their input

lookstraightahead

Thank you all so much

lisyloo

getmore4less wrote: »

TIC makes no difference it is a tiny bit more difficult as you need an extra person to act as trustee on second death.

I’d be grateful if you could explain.
With joint tenants my understanding is that is passes automatically outside the estate.
With TIC doesn’t the executor need to execute the will and file with HMRC even if there is no IHT? The property can be exchanged for cash whilst in the estate so she inherits the cash and not then property but as it’s inside the estate then doesn’t the estate need to be dealt with?