Difficulties agreeing on early inheritance routes from father who wishes to downsize

TBagpuss

IS it intended to retain the land? Is getting planning permission and selling the land for development an option? If you get a piece of land which you are then able to get planning permission to build on, and your siblings get land which has a similar value as farmland but which doesn't have the same sort of development value, then yes, it is unfair. 

Maybe your dad would be better to sell some of the land (with planning permission / for development and split the sale proceeds, and you then use your share of the cash to buy a separate piece of land from him to build on, at market value. 

That said, it all belongs to your dad and so the issue is whether HE feels it is fai, if he does, he can go ahead whether or not your siblings feel it is fair , if he doesn't, or doesn't want to rock the boat, then he won't.

Have your siblings come up with any alternative options that they think would be fairer? 

surfer91919

TBagpuss said:

IS it intended to retain the land? Is getting planning permission and selling the land for development an option? If you get a piece of land which you are then able to get planning permission to build on, and your siblings get land which has a similar value as farmland but which doesn't have the same sort of development value, then yes, it is unfair. 

Maybe your dad would be better to sell some of the land (with planning permission / for development and split the sale proceeds, and you then use your share of the cash to buy a separate piece of land from him to build on, at market value. 

That said, it all belongs to your dad and so the issue is whether HE feels it is fai, if he does, he can go ahead whether or not your siblings feel it is fair , if he doesn't, or doesn't want to rock the boat, then he won't.

Have your siblings come up with any alternative options that they think would be fairer? 

There are bits of land which would lend themselves better to selling for sure. My siblings are looking at ways to maximise the value of these now with a view to selling to come up with a plan which works more flexibly for everyone- this is a bit of a relief as for the last 6 months they've been not engaging with it but also nodding approval. Hopefully they're really thinking about it all now.

There seems to have been a lot of burying heads in the sand with some members of the family, especially re the care bill risk "oh that won't happen" etc. A long time family friend popped round on Monday to borrow some tools from me for fixing his car and it turns out that his father, upon moving house 25 years ago, bought the new family home in all their names equally/ jointly owned with an agreement between them that he would live there as long as needed. He sadly developed vascular dementia a few years ago and is shortly going into a care home after receiving care at home for some years, so the council are asset stripping his quarter of the property at a rate of around £1000 a week until it is exhausted down to 50k (i think it's 50k in wales when public care kicks in).

If he hadn't bought the house jointly with his children then clearly the whole place would be liquidated by the council, maybe hearing about this happening to someone we've known for decades will make them, including my father, take the care bill risk seriously. As I've said, I understand it's his decision with whatever happens but he told me to look into it all, thankfully my siblings, or at least some of them are now looking into it themselves too

My father has said that as long as everyone is in agreement he will be amenable as long as the plan involves him retaining the existing farm house and immediate garden.

I think the fairest way forward is probably to get the valuation for one of the bits within the LDP (the bit I could do something with) re-assessed so that it is market valued as though it already has outline planning permission for a 2 bed dwelling. As long as the gifts to the other siblings are then of comparable market value and if they aren't, an agreement is in place that I've already had X percentage, then it should then be fair as the extra potential which this land has will have been taken into account.
Any further potential (e.g detailed planning and/ or building a dwelling) is only within my, or someone else on the open markets reach for the foreseeable future and ultimately it's up to my father whether he wants me there as a neighbour or someone random, or do nothing at all

Brie

Can the land be divided up as suggested? 

What if it was split in half - which could be sold and the ££ gifted to the 2 siblings - keeping back a reserve amount for potential IHT. 

And the other half be dad's portion and OP's so that it could be built on and OP move there with partner.  This would then also mean that they are on hand to help dad as may be increasingly necessary in the coming years.  Long ago and far away a neighbour of ours managed this without a property split by building an extension on the dad's house.  Everyone knew exactly what was happening (even if not acknowledged by the planning dept) as the so called extension was actually about 3 times as big as the original house and added in such a way that once dad was gone his house could be knocked down leaving a very nice modern building that was officially the extension.

elsien

With regards to your “asset stripping” comments about your family friend, paying for the care that you need because your family are either unable or unwilling to provide it themselves is not asset stripping. 

It’s perfectly reasonable to have to pay  for your care and  the roof over your head when you can’t stay at home. People can only live in one place at a time.