Dads Will leaving us confused. Tenants in Common / Trust

socialchaos

My father has recently passed away and as far as we knew he left his entire estate to mum. However I've had a call today from a solicitor who is acting on behalf of the will writer to say that shes checked the will and my parents were tenants in common rather than joint tenants.
This means half of the house, which has been paid for in full, will be placed in trust. Mum wants to sell up as she cant handle living in the family home any longer so its fairly stressful. The solicitor has advised that it would be OK to sell but my father's half of the house or proceeds from that would be placed in trust. I have also noted that myself and siblings (of whom one is sectioned under the mental health act) are down as trustees. 
I'm unsure now what this means. The solicitor spoke to me in legal language and I could not understand, she said it would cost around £2k to do the needed on her side with probate and trust. The will reads in some kind of Shakespearian tone and we just need to get the house signed over to mum so that she can have some piece of mind.

kazwookie

Go back to the solicitor and get them to speak in a simple language.

Is the solicitor on behalf of the WILL writer an executor? is the WILL writer an executor? If not,   you can go else where you do  NOT have to use that firm.

Sorry for your loss

pphillips

What tenants in common means is that your mum and dad owned the house in separate shares. What kind of accommodation does your mother want to move to? Your dad left his share under the legal control of the trustees according to the terms of the will, presumably he was worried about his share having to pay towards your mothers future care fees.

xylophone

What exactly does your father's will say?

Does it leave your father's interest in the property to you and your siblings with just a right of occupation to your mother for as long as she wishes?  In this case, once the property was sold, your mother would have the right to only half of the proceeds (although it could be possible for the Trustees to lend her their share against a charge  against any  replacement property she might buy).

Or an "interest in possession" with the right, subject to the Trustees' permission, to sell and buy a replacement property?

If all the affected beneficiaries agree ( does the sectioned beneficiary have capacity?), it would be possible to vary the will so that your father's interest passed to your mother.

However, should your mother ever need means tested care, the whole of the property would then be taken into consideration in the means test - if your father's interest is left in trust, then this could not happen.


It would be wise to take the solicitor's advice? In particular, does the solicitor know that one of the named Trustees has been sectioned?

SevenOfNine

kazwookie said:

Go back to the solicitor and get them to speak in a simple language.

Is the solicitor on behalf of the WILL writer an executor? is the WILL writer an executor? If not,   you can go else where you do  NOT have to use that firm.

Sorry for your loss

That.   Though I wouldn't bother with the "simple language" bit yet.  You want to be absolutely certain exactly who is named as executor.  Do you have a copy of the will so you can check yourself?  See if they'll give you a copy, if not then ask for emailed confirmation of who it is.  

You can move forward with Q & A's once that's properly confirmed.  Anything else at this point will just scramble your head.