Mum has passed with large estate...here we go...

cindydorano

My mother passed earlier this year leaving me, my brother and my Dad a rather large estate. My father has usufruct and my brother and I are 50/50 heirs. There isn't much more to it then that as it was written a very long time ago before her inheritances piled up.

The estate itself is also rather simple, she inherited a  significant second family home over a decade ago in which my brother moved into and pays nothing and a decent amount of money that probably equates to around half the house value. My father has already claimed he will release the usufruct from the money as collecting interest on it doesn't really give him much anyways, but when I ask him about the house it looks like he is going to hold that as he likes to visit it once a year and I guess is trying to keep my brother comfortable. (he could easily downsize into a flat like me and release my share)

My brother stated this year he assumed we would always keep the house and divide the money.....how convenient for him.... I have been living in London most my life now fighting to keep up against ridiculous house prices, and even then only reside in a tiny 1 bedroom flat with a hefty mortgage. I was shocked and made it clear I intended to liquidate my half as soon as I could. 
He has stated then he will buy me out one day, and I believe he means it, but he doesn't work and the only money he has is what he inherits. I think he is basically suggesting he will wait til our father passes and hopes he doesn't have to sell the original family home in the meantime.

In a way I should recognize there's probably not a lot I can do. But then I wonder if there is some way to have the estate put into a trust of some kind to ensure it gets divided fairly over time. I am starting to question if its even fair my brother gets any of the money if he is stating clearly he wants to keep the house and live in it. Surely all the money should go to me until the total equals the value of the house then?

Does anyone have experience in something like this? I'm just trying to come up with a fair solution that moves things back into my favour a bit as I have felt over the years this situation has really benefitted him and left me with a bit of depression. I even considered leaving my career and just moving into the house with him however he is a bit of a bully and I do not want to live with him and in that location.

getmore4less

Need more details on the distributions and amounts to make any sense what the options might be and what IHT might be involved and how to mitigate it.

Especially if there is a life interest involved

xylophone

Is  this a will made under  English law and is the real estate situated in the UK or abroad?
https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/inheritance-tax-manual/ihtm27054

Marcon

cindydorano said:

My mother passed earlier this year leaving me, my brother and my Dad a rather large estate. My father has usufruct and my brother and I are 50/50 heirs. There isn't much more to it then that as it was written a very long time ago before her inheritances piled up.

The estate itself is also rather simple, she inherited a  significant second family home over a decade ago in which my brother moved into and pays nothing and a decent amount of money that probably equates to around half the house value. My father has already claimed he will release the usufruct from the money as collecting interest on it doesn't really give him much anyways, but when I ask him about the house it looks like he is going to hold that as he likes to visit it once a year and I guess is trying to keep my brother comfortable. (he could easily downsize into a flat like me and release my share)

My brother stated this year he assumed we would always keep the house and divide the money.....how convenient for him.... I have been living in London most my life now fighting to keep up against ridiculous house prices, and even then only reside in a tiny 1 bedroom flat with a hefty mortgage. I was shocked and made it clear I intended to liquidate my half as soon as I could. 
He has stated then he will buy me out one day, and I believe he means it, but he doesn't work and the only money he has is what he inherits. I think he is basically suggesting he will wait til our father passes and hopes he doesn't have to sell the original family home in the meantime.

In a way I should recognize there's probably not a lot I can do. But then I wonder if there is some way to have the estate put into a trust of some kind to ensure it gets divided fairly over time. I am starting to question if its even fair my brother gets any of the money if he is stating clearly he wants to keep the house and live in it. Surely all the money should go to me until the total equals the value of the house then?

Does anyone have experience in something like this? I'm just trying to come up with a fair solution that moves things back into my favour a bit as I have felt over the years this situation has really benefitted him and left me with a bit of depression. I even considered leaving my career and just moving into the house with him however he is a bit of a bully and I do not want to live with him and in that location.

Yes - a lawyer used to dealing with such matters. Far too complex to deal with here (even if anyone is familiar with usufruct - here's HMRC's view on it: http://taxnews.lexisnexis.co.uk/TaxNewsLive/Members/BreakingNewsFullText.aspx?id=4382&css=1&xml=0).

cindydorano

Thank you for the responses. Yes I suppose this is quite complicated and I need to first speak to the lawyer handling the probate and then potentially find a private one. I was hoping I could at least get a sense of what I am asking for first, I have never dealt with a death and inheritance before and can see how messy this can get even when only 3 people are involved.

I didn't quite get the distributions and amounts question, do you mean actual value? The liquid value (bank accounts) is somewhere in the 200K and the house which is being valued next month is around 400K I imagine

Marcon

cindydorano said:

Thank you for the responses. Yes I suppose this is quite complicated and I need to first speak to the lawyer handling the probate and then potentially find a private one. I was hoping I could at least get a sense of what I am asking for first, I have never dealt with a death and inheritance before and can see how messy this can get even when only 3 people are involved.

I didn't quite get the distributions and amounts question, do you mean actual value? The liquid value (bank accounts) is somewhere in the 200K and the house which is being valued next month is around 400K I imagine

Quite apart from the fact that this is a UK site, which automatically means that the vast number of people using it/replying to questions are going to have only UK experience, without seeing all the paperwork and knowing which countries are involved, trying to comment in any detail is at best guesswork. As you say, it is a case of speaking to a lawyer and taking it from there.

I hope you can find a solution which works for you and your brother.