Transfer of title deed to beneficiary when spouse is tenant in common

danielkian

Hi, I wonder if somebody could kindly point me in the right direction. Sadly, my dad became deceased at start of this year. My mother is a tenant in common. Grant of probate has been received. In accordance with the Will, we need to transfer the title of the deeds so as to remove my deceased father's name and to replace with my own, as beneficiary (obviously my mother's name will also remain). I am struggling to find information on this process, ie exactly what forms need to be completed and submitted to land registry, in this situation. There is no outstanding mortgage and I am the only beneficiary. Perhaps a solicitor will prove necessary but we are keen to avoid the high costs, if this is at all possible. Is anyone able to advise? Many Thanks in advance.

getmore4less

You don't need probate to deal with the property you mum is the one that handles any changes needed.

Have you inherited absolutely or is there a life interest for your mum?
(very common option)

Do you live there?
If you do will you want to continue to live there

There are tax implications depending on the answers.

danielkian

Hi, thanks for responding - yes there is a life interest for my mother and no, I do not live there. 

msb1234

If there is a life interest for your mum you dont actually need to do anything until your mum dies. 

danielkian

Thank you. So to be clear, are you saying that we don’t need to change the title deeds even though my dad is now deceased and I have inherited his share? If we make no change, would this then become a harder process for myself in the future in any way (presuming my mum becomes deceased before me, meaning I will inherit my mother’s share)?

shiraz99

danielkian said:

Thank you. So to be clear, are you saying that we don’t need to change the title deeds even though my dad is now deceased and I have inherited his share in trust? If we make no change, would this then become a harder process for myself in the future in any way (presuming my mum becomes deceased before me)?

You haven't inherited anything yet, as you mention, what's been created is a life interest trust. Your mum is currently the sole owner of the property title and you will inherit the share in trust and presumably her share on her death. The property title does not require changing until then.

danielkian

Okay, thank you. So does my mum need to have my dad’s name at least removed from the title deeds? Ie does land registry need to be informed that my dad is deceased?

getmore4less

Who is executor/administrator.

It makes sense to put a trustee(s) on the deeds, that way probate would not be needed if mum or trustee dies.

The default trustee would be the executor but it would be reasonable to have you down as a legal owner as remainderman of the trust.

Just removing dad relies on those left remembering which could be years later.

You have not inherited anything dad's  share has gone into a trust with you as the remainderman.

For IHT mum has the benefitial interest so full value is part of her estate and gets the spouse exemption (married?) and transferable nil rate bands.

danielkian

Thank you. So both mum and myself are executors.

So what do we now need to do to make things as straight forward as possible in the future - inform land registry of deceased and request to add myself as trustee onto deeds? (Ie because I’m an executor).  Is it possible in that case, to also be put down as a legal owner as remainder man of the trust? 

Is anyone able to tell me which forms would need to be completed to achieve the above?

Thank you again for your input.

Keep_pedalling

Slightly off topic, does your mother have a lasting power of attorney for finance in place? If not that should be something that should be done ASAP. If your mother lost mental capacity though accident or illness and the house needs to be sold, you would be forced to apply for deputyship in order to do it, and that is a longwinded and expensive thing to do.

danielkian

Thank you for highlighting this. Currently, I have enduring power of attorney, which I believe was predecessor to Lasting power of attorney? I think this is something we will need to check through. Thanks for the pointer.