Solicitor costs

Keep_pedalling

timg147 said:

I'm not sure about the trustees but the trust was set up, as I think is fairly common, to prevent the house having to be sold if either of them had to go into a home. Clearly the wrong move i hindsight given the savings and investments involved and the impact on IHT.

Reasonably common, although not for people with significant assets who would usually want to maintain control rather than risk ‘over my dead body grove’. Deliberate deprivation of assets would also apply , which is why I think the advice to set up the trust was poor.The only real beneficiary of this action was the solicitor who undoubtedly charged a large fee, and now HMRC.

The trustees should have been registered on the land registry when the house was transferred. For a small fee you can download the records at the land registry. 

https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

timg147

Strangely a land registry search brings up 'no information held'

Keep_pedalling

timg147 said:

Strangely a land registry search brings up 'no information held'

Sounds like your parents owned the house for a very long time. Unregistered property will only need to become registered when it changes hands, which should have happened when the trust was set up, but does not seem to have happened. 

If you have not found the paper deeds and the paperwork associated with the trust, then you need to contact the original solicitors to see what they are holding and if they are actually the trustees. 

Land_Registry

Keep_pedalling said:

timg147 said:

Strangely a land registry search brings up 'no information held'

Sounds like your parents owned the house for a very long time. Unregistered property will only need to become registered when it changes hands, which should have happened when the trust was set up, but does not seem to have happened. 

If you have not found the paper deeds and the paperwork associated with the trust, then you need to contact the original solicitors to see what they are holding and if they are actually the trustees. 

Appreciate this is more about costs etc but just to flag in case helpful
Whilst a transfer of the legal ownership to a trust/trustees (since 2003) would have triggered the need to register for the first time I don’t think setting up a discretionary trust would do the same. 

A DT is linked to monies/income rather than the legal ownership so I don’t think it would have led To a transfer from joint owners to a trust/trustees. 

I suspect the parents have owned the property for 30+ years as you suggest hence it being unregistered. OP will need to check paperwork to see if the original deeds are present or held by solicitor/bank/elsewhere. 

If it was in both their names then probate is needed for the sole surviving owner to enable the executor to deal with their estate. The legal ownership passed to the surviving owner so forms part of their estate. 

Probate plus deeds and death certificate/probate for first deceased can then be used to register for the first time as appropriate 
https://customerhelp.landregistry.gov.uk/guide-page-external/?stepid=4ca13e07-9982-eb11-a812-000d3ad48f95&kbonly=true&setanswer=

getmore4less

I found the map search useful

It found entries that would not have been found by address search.