House signed over to me, so no Will

Greenfields32

My father signed his house over to me (his daughter) 9 years ago. He did this to ensure that his other daughter did not get anything and there would be no Will to contest. She had estranged herself from him and only saw him once in 23 years. Now this daughter has passed away and I'd like to know if her children (his grandchildren) would be able to contest this? Is there anything to contest if there is no Will? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I can find no information on-line regarding this.

McKneff

Did he leave any other assetts, car, jewelry, money.
Your father, leaving no will, has died intestate, therefore any other assets go to you and your sisters children.
You should remember that these are innocent children and have done no wrong

lincroft1710

McKneff wrote: »

You should remember that these are innocent children and have done no wrong

The "children" may be adults

Greenfields32

Happily my father has not died - he's 92 and doing well. I only ask because a friend said I should check, Sadly they are not innocent children the youngest is in her 30s and non of them have visited him in 20 plus years.

elsien

The obvious thing to do then is for him to make a simple will, surely?
Unless he has no savings or other assets at all.

AnotherJoe

Greenfields32 wrote: »

My father signed his house over to me (his daughter) 9 years ago. He did this to ensure that his other daughter did not get anything and there would be no Will to contest. She had estranged herself from him and only saw him once in 23 years. Now this daughter has passed away and I'd like to know if her children (his grandchildren) would be able to contest this? Is there anything to contest if there is no Will? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I can find no information on-line regarding this.

I presume you mean successfully contest, since anyone can contest anything and the issue is, what are their chances of succeeding.
They could claim you brought undue influence whether the house was transferred 9 years ago or a will was written 9 years ago or five minutes ago.

Anyway the chances they could successfully contest it would seem to be as close to zero as you could get but a will would seem to fix the deal as you'd have, 9 years apart, two separate acts each clearly giving everything to you.

xylophone

The house is now yours.

Does your father have other assets?

If he dies intestate see

https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will

Greenfields32

Thank you for your reply. Dad has no real assets apart from enough for a funeral. It was dad's idea to sign the house over and this was done correctly through a solicitor with his feelings and reasons included. He's still living independently in his home obviously, with daily help from me.

Greenfields32

Thank you for your reply. Dad has no other assets apart from enough for a funeral.

Keep_pedalling

No chance of any contest, but there are a couple of unrelated issues that you should be aware of. The first is that if he ever needs residential care the LA are likely to view the transfer as deliberate deprivation of assets, and the second is that if this is not your home you are likely to have a Capital Gains liability when the house is sold, something you would not face if you inherited the house.

Malthusian

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

The first is that if he ever needs residential care the LA are likely to view the transfer as deliberate deprivation of assets

They could try but this isn't deliberate deprivation. The father gave his house away because he wanted the OP to have it, and he wanted to avoid any chance of a contested Will. Ipso facto it isn't deliberate deprivation.

Care_and_support_statutory_guidance_(emphasis__added) wrote:

Deprivation of assets means where a person has intentionally deprived or decreased their overall assets in order to reduce the amount they are charged towards their care. This means that they must have known that they needed care and support and have reduced their assets in order to reduce the contribution they are asked to make towards the cost of that care and support.

It was nine years ago, and presumably there was no anticipation at the time that the father would require care.

The chance of the council successfully pinning care fees on the OP would therefore seem minimal. They may however still investigate, in which case the OP should honestly state the facts as to when and why it was given to her, and refer them to the solicitor who can back her up. They may also put pressure on the OP to pay, which she should ignore. Unless she has spare funds which she wants to use to improve her father's standard of care.

(If she doesn't live in the house then she may well feel it is right to use the money her father gave her to pay for a better care home; on the other hand if she's living in the house and has no spare income, she may not be in a position to do that. We don't know her situation.)

The OP's father should still make a Will so he can make his choice of executors known and ensure the grandchildren don't interfere with the funeral arrangements.