Inheritance/Will

ulysees321

This is quite a long one so i want to thank anyone who takes the time to read and respond to this and it is a bit of crass subject but i would like to know and understand how it all works,
I'm looking for some advice around inheritance and wills.

Me and my Father had a chat the other month about his will and what he wants to happen when he passes,(he's 67 now and i hope he doesn't pass for a long time) He remarried about 10 years ago and made a will after remarrying so shouldn't fall in to the trap of not having made a will after remarrying. He also keeps separate copies at home and with his solicitor.(his wife (stepmum) isn't aware there is a will)

My father has amassed a reasonably large sum of cash over the years through savings and inheritance from his mum etc, around the 200k but he currently does not own a house as he has a house supplied by his current employer as part of his job role, However recently they (or she has been forcing him i should say) to look at places to buy, neither my sister nor myself get along with her for various reasons.

My father would be the sole purchaser of the property with his own funds as the step mother doesn't work (has never worked to my knowledge) and has no assets or funds, but i do not know if the house would be placed in joint names upon completion of the purchase.

In my fathers will it states that the step mother will receive 50% and both me and my sister will receive 50% so 25% each, which i have no issues with.
However i have a few questions around if they bought a house together.
Would she have to sell the house to pay the inheritance if my father passed? or because its a joint house she can continue to live there as long as she likes?

If the house is in joint names would me and my sister only be entitled to 50% of my fathers share of the house (effectively one quarter of the house split between us because she is entitled to 50% of my fathers estate) even though he purchased the whole thing? or would we still be entitled to 50% (25% each) of the whole house?
Would it be best to get the house put in to a trust and they live there as tenants in common? but if that happened wouldn't she be able to live there for the rest of her life to rather than force her to sell?
Thanks again for anyone that takes the time to read this and respond

LandyAndy

If they bought the house as joint tenants then it would not be part of your father's estate but would pass entirely into the ownership of your wicked stepmother. You would then be entitled to 25 % of anything that was in his estate.
If you think it is any of your business you may want to suggest they own the property as tenants in common.

tacpot12

ulysees321 wrote: »

My father has amassed a reasonably large sum of cash over the years through savings and inheritance from his mum etc, around the 200k but he currently does not own a house as he has a house supplied by his current employer as part of his job role, However recently they (or she has been forcing him i should say) to look at places to buy, neither my sister nor myself get along with her for various reasons.

My father would be the sole purchaser of the property with his own funds as the step mother doesn't work (has never worked to my knowledge) and has no assets or funds, but i do not know if the house would be placed in joint names upon completion of the purchase.

In my fathers will it states that the step mother will receive 50% and both me and my sister will receive 50% so 25% each, which i have no issues with.
However i have a few questions around if they bought a house together.
Would she have to sell the house to pay the inheritance if my father passed? or because its a joint house she can continue to live there as long as she likes?

If the house is in joint names would me and my sister only be entitled to 50% of my fathers share of the house (effectively one quarter of the house split between us because she is entitled to 50% of my fathers estate) even though he purchased the whole thing? or would we still be entitled to 50% (25% each) of the whole house?

Your step-mother, according to your father's will is being left 50% of his assets, with the other 50% being split equally with you and your sister. If he died tomorrow, your step mother would inherit around £100,000. If he bought a house, this would become a marital asset and she would be entitled to half of it were they do get divorced, so under a number of circumstances she is going to get half of his assets. This seems appropriate - it would be unusual for a husband to not provide for his partner.

it would seem sensible for him to buy any property with his wife as tenants-in-common (each owning 50% of the house), so that he can leave his share of the house in a revised will to you and your sister. The other half he would have given to his wife before death; as they are married there would be no IHT to pay on this gift regardless of when he dies.)

In his will, he can give his wife a life interest in your shares of the property. This will allow her to live in the property for a period, possibly the rest of her life, or until she can no longer occupy the property as her home. Or it might allow her to live there for a shorter period. After this, the interest in that share of the property reverts to you and your sister and you can force your step-mother to sell.

Your Dad needs to decide how long you might have to wait for this inheritance to come to you.

An alternative is that he buys a much smaller property as joint tenants with your step-mother, say costing £100,000, and gives you and your sister your inheritance early. This will only be an option if he feels he will never need the money. He might also by the smaller property as tenants in common with your step-mother and leave his share of the house to her and the remaining £100,000 (still on deposit) to and your sister.

You and he might also, in looking at what might be an equitable split of his assets, review what will happen to his pension(s) when he dies. If there is a substantial lump sum or widows pension that will be paid, he could factor this into what his will says and what he does if he purchases a property. e.g. He might leave the entire house to her, but ask his pension trustees to pay all his pension pot (in the case of a DC scheme) to you and your sister. This nomination of his beneficiaries can always be changed while he has mental capacity.

Malthusian

tacpot12 wrote: »

You and he might also, in looking at what might be an equitable split of his assets, review what will happen to his pension(s) when he dies. If there is a substantial lump sum or widows pension that will be paid, he could factor this into what his will says and what he does if he purchases a property. e.g. He might leave the entire house to her, but ask his pension trustees to pay all his pension pot (in the case of a DC scheme) to you and your sister.

Bear in mind that pension trustees have absolute discretion on where pension death benefits go. The member can make their wishes known but the trustees decide whether or not to follow them. This is different to personal assets where the Will is binding unless overridden by the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act.

The risk if you leave all your DC pension funds to the children and more of the estate to the wife is that the wicked stepmother claims to the trustees that she hasn't got enough to live on and needs more of his pension fund. She won't need an expensive legal challenge to do that (as challenging a Will does), just a good enough story. I would therefore be wary of doing that and prefer splitting both the estate and the pensions along roughly similar lines, as closely as is practical while taking into account the complication of the house.

Pensions were historically designed to benefit the member and their spouse and give virtually nothing to adult non-dependent children. With a DC fund you are now absolutely free to ask the trustees to give everything to your children and nothing to your spouse, but the trustees are free to ignore that if the spouse manages to persuade them.

onwards&upwards

ulysees321 wrote: »

thanks for the assumptions, its not about obsessing about getting hands on money i don't even need the money i would rather it go to a charity than go to someone he doesn't really love but keeps around because he is afraid of being on his own, doesn't work, and literally just sponges whilst making every effort to alienate his side of the family,
As for old age maybe 67 isn't old if someone has been sat in a office all of their life (im not insinuating anything) but if you have been out in the elements and have numerous medical conditions then its a different kettle of fish. Additionally this is something he bought up about his will, i just want to understand how it all works legally,

So the real issue is that you don’t trust your dad’s judgement in who he married.

Does your dad know how you feel about his wife, the woman he has chosen to share the rest of his life with? You can’t get married by accident.

Mojisola

ulysees321 wrote: »

In my fathers will it states that the step mother will receive 50% and both me and my sister will receive 50% so 25% each, which i have no issues with.

I don't know why people are having a go at you when this split is your father's decision.

It makes sense to look at ways to keep this division of the estate once a house is bought.

Skiddaw1

I agree. I see no reason why anyone should be taking a pop at you OP, just because (for whatever reason) you and your sister don't hit it off with your father's wife.


I think it might be worth your father getting some proper legal advice before he purchases a house as to what might be the best way forward in terms of his will. What concerns me a bit (I'm sure you've thought of it too) is that the proposed arrangement could get very fractious after he dies in view of the 'no love lost' issues between you/your sister and his wife. I think the suggestion that your father perhaps buys something smaller (to leave outright to his wife) and gives the two of you a lump sum now rather than after he dies might be a better solution.

gettingtheresometime

With regards the house wouldn't it depend on how the house is held?


If it's Tenants in Common then if it was held 50/50 before death then your dad's half could be held in trust for you & your sister for whatever length of time your dad decided.


If it's Joint Tenants then the entire house would go to your stepmum & then she'd get the house plus 50% of anything else.

onwards&upwards

Mojisola wrote: »

I don't know why people are having a go at you when this split is your father's decision.

It makes sense to look at ways to keep this division of the estate once a house is bought.

Maybe i’m a bit grumpy today, it is a possibility, i’ve not had the best week, but i’m just irritated by adult children sticking their noses into their competent adult parents’ finances and talking about inheritances as if they are a right or a definite.

I can’t decide if i’m more or less irritated by the fact that the OP doesn’t seem to care who gets the inheritance as long as it’s anybody except his father’s actual wife!

Mojisola

ulysees321 wrote: »

In my fathers will it states that the step mother will receive 50% and both me and my sister will receive 50% so 25% each, which i have no issues with.

onwards&upwards wrote: »

I can’t decide if i’m more or less irritated by the fact that the OP doesn’t seem to care who gets the inheritance as long as it’s anybody except his father’s actual wife!

That's not what ulysees said.

-taff

I'd say, why don't you ask your father what he intends to do if you are both quite open about the will and what it says.