Tenants in common- paper work after bereavement

catface36

Hi my father passed last year and owned the family home as tenants in common with my mum. My mum has Alzheimers and lacks capacity. I have applied for probate, however stumped as what to do now. How can I get land Registry changed ? Will I need to apply to court of protection to get the house sold ? Any advice appreciated. Thanks

getmore4less

What does the will say.?
Does anyone have LPA for mum? 

xylophone

Did your father leave his interest in the property to anyone other than your mother?

catface36

Hi yes my father left his share to me. No I don’t have LPA for mum. I know I have to change land registry records before I can go through court of protection for the sale, just not sure what paperwork I need to complete, and added complication that I don’t have LPA. Thanks

Keep_pedalling

catface36 said:

Hi yes my father left his share to me. No I don’t have LPA for mum. I know I have to change land registry records before I can go through court of protection for the sale, just not sure what paperwork I need to complete, and added complication that I don’t have LPA. Thanks

No, your priority should be to kick off applying for deputyship, it is a long winded process and there is no reason why you need to wait to change the LR records first. There should be no need to transfer your father’s share to your name at all, and it would be a mistake to do so if you do not already own your own home as you would lose your first time buyer status.

getmore4less

catface36 said:

Hi yes my father left his share to me. No I don’t have LPA for mum. I know I have to change land registry records before I can go through court of protection for the sale, just not sure what paperwork I need to complete, and added complication that I don’t have LPA. Thanks

Are you sure he left it to or was it the more normal life interest trust? 

Land_Registry

The legal ownership was owned by them both so on his death it passed to your Mother. 

As such probate is not needed to deal with the property as it’s for your Mother to deal with. As a result it’s her mental capacity that is the key here and the court of protection. 

Once that is resolved and you have the legal authority to deal with her affairs, including the property, then you can consider transferring it. 

I would strongly recommend seeking legal advice to ascertain what options are available in light of her health and what’s best for each of you. 

The only change you could currently make to the land register would be to update it re your Father’s death. But that can be done as and when the property is transferred so is not a requirement now 

sammyjammy

Land_Registry said:

The legal ownership was owned by them both so on his death it passed to your Mother. 

As such probate is not needed to deal with the property as it’s for your Mother to deal with. As a result it’s her mental capacity that is the key here and the court of protection. 

Once that is resolved and you have the legal authority to deal with her affairs, including the property, then you can consider transferring it. 

I would strongly recommend seeking legal advice to ascertain what options are available in light of her health and what’s best for each of you. 

The only change you could currently make to the land register would be to update it re your Father’s death. But that can be done as and when the property is transferred so is not a requirement now 

The OP says the property was held tenants in common and his fathers share left to him, the son.

Mickey666

catface36 said:

Hi my father passed last year and owned the family home as tenants in common with my mum. My mum has Alzheimers and lacks capacity. I have applied for probate, however stumped as what to do now. How can I get land Registry changed ? Will I need to apply to court of protection to get the house sold ? Any advice appreciated. Thanks

There are a few things going on here.
Assuming you're the executor of your Father's will then I don't think it matters that your Mother doesn't have capacity as there's nothing for her to do as far as dealing with your Father's estate is concerned.  Thus, updating LR records to reflect the new house ownership should be no problem as it won't require anything from your Mother.
However, selling the house is a completely different matter and not really related to the will in any way.

Land_Registry

sammyjammy said:

The OP says the property was held tenants in common and his fathers share left to him, the son.

Indeed but the share is in his late Father’s beneficial ownership and not the legal ownership. It’s a very important distinction to make and understand

Land_Registry

Mickey666 said:

catface36 said:

Hi my father passed last year and owned the family home as tenants in common with my mum. My mum has Alzheimers and lacks capacity. I have applied for probate, however stumped as what to do now. How can I get land Registry changed ? Will I need to apply to court of protection to get the house sold ? Any advice appreciated. Thanks

There are a few things going on here.
Assuming you're the executor of your Father's will then I don't think it matters that your Mother doesn't have capacity as there's nothing for her to do as far as dealing with your Father's estate is concerned.  Thus, updating LR records to reflect the new house ownership should be no problem as it won't require anything from your Mother.
However, selling the house is a completely different matter and not really related to the will in any way.

That is correct re his estate but important to note that the legal ownership of the property is not part of his estate. So you can update the register re his death will simply remove his name and confirm that your Mother is the sole legal owner. That’s true whether you update it or not though as very sadly his death is a fact whatever the register states. 

If you want to sell then it’s your Mother’s legal ownership that matters. She is the one who will have to transfer the legal ownership and if she can’t due to her health you need the legal authority to do that. So that will be a LPA/order from court of protection for her and not probate for your late Father.