Legal Aid Charge on a house I have inherited

elsmandino

Hello there.

I would be really grateful for some advice on a really rather tricky situation that I have ended up in.

My parents were joint legal owners of the family home (unregistered land) and went through a rather nasty divorce - I was a child at the time and all I know is that my father left the matrimonial home and later bought a new property with another woman that he subsequently married.

Some 10 years or so ago, my mother passed away intestate - I was still living in the property with my mother, at the home, and as there was no mortgage on the home, I inherited the home (I am an only child) and have continued to live there ever since.  I dealt with probate but did not attempt to register the land - just did not occur to me to do this.

My father recently passed away and my father's widow has contacted me to confirm that he left a will - said will said that my father left everything to his widow, bar any beneficial interest in my current property, which he left to me.  My father jointly owned the property with his wife, so the widow has now inherited that property.

This is where everything starts to get messy:

My father's widow went to their local solicitor, for the reading of the will, and it was explained to her that there is a charge on my home - this, apparently, is a legal aid charge that was incurred by my father for the purposes of divorcing my mother - my father's widow phone me to explain all this.

Furthermore, it looks like other than the two properties involved there was very little else in terms of savings or anything.

The question is where this leaves everybody:

I realise that I should have tried to register the property in my name, following the death of my mother - this would have identified the charge to me at that stage.  Even now, I am unable to register the home, with a clean title, until that charge is removed.

To make matters worse, Legal Aid charges incur an 8% interest charge, so the debt is now worth considerably more than it was when first occurred - it has just been sitting there accruing.

Ultimately, what should I be doing now, if anything?

I really need to know if there is any prospect of my having to pay this charge myself - if so, it is my interest (no pun intended) to do so as soon as possible to stop interest accruing any further.

Any assistance would be gratefully received.

Flugelhorn

what happened when your father left your mother? did he sign over the house to her or were they still joint owners? If the property was signed over then would have thought the charge would have been dealt with then - or did it happen afterwards, if so how was the charge set against the property if your mother owned it?

unforeseen

My parents were joint legal owners of the family home 

Tenants in common or joint tenants? 

If joint then your father would have become the sole owner not you. 
If TIC then unless the deeds say different, he would have owned 50% and you own 50%

xylophone

Are you certain that the property is unregistered?

How did your late father's solicitor know about the charge? Where was it registered?

Do you have the Deeds of the property?

Are your late parents still shown as joint proprietors?

Had you considered consulting a  solicitor?

elsmandino

Thank you both for your response - what a mess, eh?

Flugelhorn said:

what happened when your father left your mother? did he sign over the house to her or were they still joint owners? If the property was signed over then would have thought the charge would have been dealt with then - or did it happen afterwards, if so how was the charge set against the property if your mother owned it?

Unfortunately, I have no idea - very good point, though, that if the court awarded the house to my mother (so my father retained no interest at all), it would be rather strange for a charge to be put on a house, as you say, that they no longer have any interest in.

unforeseen said:

My parents were joint legal owners of the family home 

Tenants in common or joint tenants? 

If joint then your father would have become the sole owner not you. 
If TIC then unless the deeds say different, he would have owned 50% and you own 50%

I am pretty sure that they originally purchased the house as joint tenants.  However, I have read that a Legal Aid charge on a property automatically severs joint tenancy.

I have not done myself any favours by so uninformed by the situation.

Do you think I should start by obtaining a copy of the consent order, relating to the divorce?

elsmandino

Thanks xylophone.

xylophone said:

Are you certain that the property is unregistered?

This is an assumption - how might I double check this?

How did your late father's solicitor know about the charge? Where was it registered?

He (according to my father's widow) did a quick land registry search and the charge popped up.

Do you have the Deeds of the property?

I do - they were sent to me, a few years ago (a bank returned them, saying that they were not longer holding on to them).

Are your late parents still shown as joint proprietors?

The deeds seem to have been untouched since the day they got married in the 1970s.

Had you considered consulting a  solicitor?

At the moment, yes - starting to think that I am getting way out of my depth on this one.

RAS

elsmandino said:

Thanks xylophone.

xylophone said:

Are you certain that the property is unregistered?

This is an assumption - how might I double check this?

How did your late father's solicitor know about the charge? Where was it registered?

He (according to my father's widow) did a quick land registry search and the charge popped up.

In which case the house is registered.

Check here Search for property information from HM Land Registry - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Flugelhorn

you need to check the title online to see what it currently says - this can be done at the Land Registry site -  https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry and would be the same one the solicitor did - let us know what the wording is, might be able to give a bit more advice 

elsmandino

Thanks for that - I have done a search and there is a "caution against first registration".  Does that meant that it remains unregistrable because of the charge preventing otherwise?

74jax

Hi everyone. Just to save duplication this is the original thread

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6284927/late-fathers-legal-aid-charge-on-my-inherited-house/p1. 

You will all see we are waiting for the op to confirm what the actual 'beneficial interests' are, ie to live in it. To be able to own it etc.

The mother and father (on the original thread) owned it jointly and the mother died intestate.

Thought it useful to post so we all have the info in one place. 

xylophone

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/caution-against-first-registration/practice-guide-3-cautions-against-first-registration

Do you have a copy of the divorce settlement?

I would have thought that if sole ownership of the property passed to your mother, an order relating to a debt incurred by your father could not have been registered against it.

https://england.shelter.org.uk/professional_resources/legal/home_ownership/charging_orders_and_orders_for_sale/charging_orders

Effect of a charging order on jointly owned property

A charging order made against one joint owner of a property has the effect of severing a beneficial joint tenancy between owners. This means that the property is held as tenants in common with a presumption that the shares will be equal unless there is evidence to the contrary.

The effect of this severance means that if one joint owner dies, the deceased's share does not pass automatically to the surviving joint owner on death according to the usual principle of survivorship. Instead, it remains part of the deceased homeowner's estate. This means that the deceased's interest in the property must be administered according to the rules of probate.

More information about probate and intestacy rules is available through the gov.uk probate helpline.

If the above applies to your case, then it would appear that your late parents owned the property as tenants in common - this would mean that when your mother died, while you inherited her beneficial interest, your father remained the beneficial owner of half the property (and in fact the sole legal owner of the whole).

In this connection, see 

https://www.land-registry-documents.co.uk/information/joint-ownership-tennants/

This would also mean that it is up to the executors of your father's will to arrange for the transfer of the property into your sole name and also (presumably) to settle his debt?

His share of the property would also need to be taken into consideration for IHT and reported on the probate forms?

Is the solicitor to whom you refer above the executor of your father's will?