House not in Mother in Laws name

Batistuta29

My mother in law has died. She always referred to having a will but her partner of 20 years cannot find one so my sister in law is now trying to manage everything through intestacy rules. However, MIL had a house she bought after her divorce from FIL with the proceeds of the sale of the family home. Her partner moved in later. They never married or had a civil partnership. It now seems the house has been registered in her partners' daughter name and we are not sure if there is anything that can be done about that. This must have been done some time after she bought the property. They are not related in anyway, but there is also not a will that says she wanted to pass the house solely to her partners daughter. I know people change their minds about things and it is her asset to do what she wishes, but she did send a letter saying that she wanted the house to be split between her 3 children and the partners daughter in the event of anything happening. Is there anything to be done on this as the partner and his daughter are being very unforthcoming with information, papers etc

KatrinaWaves

If the partners daughter owns the house, then a will cannot will it to someone else. neither can a letter

Keep_pedalling

Unless you have some evidence that the transfer was carried out under duress or fraudulently there is little that can be done. The house however will still form part of her estate for IHT purposes and if that takes her estate over £325k then your SIL is going to face a major issue in trying to pay the tax without having the power to sell the house.

Manxman_in_exile

But IHT only comes into play if the house wasn't transferred by way of purchase doesn't it?  Are you assuming it's been given away soemhow?

Not being funny, but the OP doesn't seem to know much about the ownership of the house except it was bought from the proceeds of her mother's divorce but is now registered in the name of the mother's partner's daughter.  I agree it looks like it may have been some sort of gift (or similar), but shouldn't the OP first try to find out how it came to be registered in the name of her mother's step-daughter?

EDIT:  Oh!  Sorry!  Just realised you commenced your post "Unless you have some evidence..."  That'll teach me to read and think first and post afterwards!

Keep_pedalling

UManxman_in_exile said:

But IHT only comes into play if the house wasn't transferred by way of purchase doesn't it?  Are you assuming it's been given away soemhow?

Not being funny, but the OP doesn't seem to know much about the ownership of the house except it was bought from the proceeds of her mother's divorce but is now registered in the name of the mother's partner's daughter.  I agree it looks like it may have been some sort of gift (or similar), but shouldn't the OP first try to find out how it came to be registered in the name of her mother's step-daughter?

EDIT:  Oh!  Sorry!  Just realised you commenced your post "Unless you have some evidence..."  That'll teach me to read and think first and post afterwards!

I had rather assumed it had been gifted rather than sold, although my money is still on the former.

Brynsam

Batistuta29 said:

My mother in law has died. She always referred to having a will but her partner of 20 years cannot find one so my sister in law is now trying to manage everything through intestacy rules.

It now seems the house has been registered in her partners' daughter name and we are not sure if there is anything that can be done about that.

 Is there anything to be done on this as the partner and his daughter are being very unforthcoming with information, papers etc

There is 'nothing that can be done about that' and why should there be? If your MIL sent a letter but took no action to formalise what the letter said, that's almost certainly the end of the story.

Why should the partner and his daughter be forthcoming with anything if the house is owned by the daughter? Perhaps someone who has just lost their partner of 20 years would prefer to be left in peace to grieve, rather than getting into discussions about paperwork and 'information' (whatever you mean by that). Perhaps your husband is more willing than you are to accept the status quo.

Keep_pedalling said:

The house however will still form part of her estate for IHT purposes and if that takes her estate over £325k then your SIL is going to face a major issue in trying to pay the tax without having the power to sell the house.

Not necessarily. The house could have been sold to the daughter at market value; or given to her/sold below MV but your MIL and her partner paid her rent at a commercial level to go on living there. As for facing a 'major issue' in paying IHT, it's a problem personal representatives face all the time and there are various ways round it pending the sale of the property.

xylophone

You are saying that at least twenty years ago, your MIL bought a property and  lived in it  until her recent death (for a number of years with a partner to whom she was not married).

At some point the property ( which is still occupied by the partner), was transferred into the  name of  the partner's daughter.


It appears that MIL left no will so that one of her own offspring is trying to deal with her estate.

The offspring will need to establish the circumstances under which the transfer of ownership took place, (and this should include establishing whether it was a transfer by way of sale or gift (or, indeed, whether there is any possibility that it was transferred  to the daughter as a mere nominee for the MIL) - I raise this because you state

she did send a letter saying that she wanted the house to be split between her 3 children and the partners daughter in the event of anything happening.

Of course this might merely mean that  MIL was relying on the good will of her partner's daughter to gift an interest in the property to MIL's own children.

If it transpires that the property was transferred to the partner's daughter as an absolute gift but that MIL did not pay her a market rent, then while the daughter does indeed own the property, for purposes of IHT it remains part of the MIL's estate and  the administrator of the estate will need to establish whether any IHT is payable.

Aranyani

Maybe this was MIL's way of ensuring her partner would be able to stay in the property for the rest of his life?

xylophone

 think you're in the realms of fantasy by suggesting it was transferred to the partner's daughter as a nominee for MIL (sounds like you might have been googling and found sites relating to property law in India!).

Is this a deliberate insult?

I was suggesting that the offspring of MIL (who is apparently acting as administrator of her mother's intestate estate) should check all possibilities in respect of the transfer of the property.

unforeseen

It's because the only references that Google brings to light for nominees and residential properties are in Indian law cases. 

xylophone

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/trusts-settlements-and-estates-manual/tsem9150

Or property may be held in the name of ‘A as nominee for B’. ‘Nominee’ is a bare trustee. Again, A is the legal owner, and B is the beneficial owner.

https://www.accountingweb.co.uk/any-answers/rents-from-property-held-as-nominee

I have been asked to help a young man who is the sole owner (at Land Registry) of a flat,  which is rented out. There is a mortgage on the property, also in his sole name. However the deposit of about £60,000 was paid by his mother and there is a simple hand written trust deed signed by him and his mother stating that the property is belongs to her, with him as nominee.