Mother doesn't have a will/gifting inheritance

jenijen27

Hi everyone. I hope this doesn't appear in bad taste, but I wonder if anyone can explain what would happen to my mums house when she passes away?
My brother lives with her (he always will). He doesn't work due to ill health and claims benefits.
If she dies without a will, I understand her estate should be split equally between my brother and I, but are we able to ignore this and just let the house become my brothers? 
Is there anything I need to consider when 'gifting' him my inheritance?
Thanks for any advice.

Flugelhorn

there are various options - you could let your brother have the house but if you have any means tested benefits etc you could be considered to have still inherited the property / estate. 
will your brother be able to maintain the house etc on the money he gets?
would brother be better getting somewhere smaller and more easily maintained on his share of the money?
would you want to allow your brother to stay there but still maintain an interest in the property eg it reverts to you if he dies or to your children? - (gets complicated as who is responsible for maintaining etc etc )

Grumpy_chap

Assuming things pan out as set in the OP, then 'gifting' the half of the house to the brother could result in IHT depending on how many years the OP survives following the gift.  Deed of Variation is a way round that scenario (I think there may be a different terminology for intestate estate, but the principle is the same).

Is the mother's estate likely to be subject to IHT and, if so, is there sufficient resource within the estate to satisfy the IHT without selling the house?  If not, how will the IHT bill be settled?  May then be worth investing in some professional IHT planning advice (though it is not obvious the mother would follow that advice if she does not even write a will).

xylophone

If, following intestacy, you decided that you would prefer that your brother benefited from the whole of your mother's estate, you could arrange a Deed of Variation of intestacy to achieve this object.
https://www.thepfs.org/news-index/articles/the-correct-use-of-deeds-of-variation/82865

Savvy_Sue

Will your brother be able to manage his own affairs?

Keep_pedalling

What is actually stopping your mother getting a will?