Distributing Estate - no will

elsien

Mojisola said:

Superb52 said:
My mum died intestate earlier this year.
Although she had no will she did tell her husband her wishes & that included passing money to her children.
My stepdad has been told he can't pass any money to us without him having to pay a huge amount of tax due to rule changes.

Is this an excuse he's using because he doesn't want to just say no to complying with her wishes?

Possibly. Although if she felt so strongly about her children inheriting, wouldn’t she have just made a will? 

Mojisola

elsien said:

Mojisola said:

Is this an excuse he's using because he doesn't want to just say no to complying with her wishes?

Possibly. Although if she felt so strongly about her children inheriting, wouldn’t she have just made a will? 

Too many people don't make wills. 

Some of them trust that their partners will 'do the right thing' and don't think they need to.

Keep_pedalling

Marcon said:

Superb52 said:

Hi,
My mum died intestate earlier this year.

Although she had no will she did tell her husband her wishes & that included passing money to her children. 

My stepdad has been told he can't pass any money to us without him having to pay a huge amount of tax due to rule changes. I'm confused by this as the only tax risk I thought there would be is if he dies within 7 years but surely that relates to inheritance tax which I am certain won't be an issue. 

He is looking at passing £15k to each of us. 

I have suggested a deed of variation may solve the issue but he doesn't really understand.

Can someone explain the tax risks to my stepdad if he passes money to us without a deed of variation.

Many thanks. 

He won't have to pay any tax. If he dies within 7 years then his estate might have to pay some tax, but not on all the money. He can gift a total of up to £3,000 a year (and if he didn't make any gifts last year, then he can use £3,000 from that year).

For some clarity, you can gift as much as you like, the £3k is an exemption not a limit. If some tax was due on the gifts it would still be less than would be payable if no gifts were made ( because of the annual exemption) and would still be payed from the residual estate not clawed back from the people who received the gifts.

None of this really matters unless your net worth is in IHT territory.

Spendless

Mojisola said:

elsien said:

Mojisola said:

Is this an excuse he's using because he doesn't want to just say no to complying with her wishes?

Possibly. Although if she felt so strongly about her children inheriting, wouldn’t she have just made a will? 

Too many people don't make wills. 

Some of them trust that their partners will 'do the right thing' and don't think they need to.

Agreed. The late actress Lynda Bellingham fell for that one with her husband and her sons from a previous marriage. https://willwritten.com/legacy-advice/lynda-bellinghams-sons-betrayed-as-feared

People don't always update wills either. My Nan occasionally threatened to re-write her will and dis-inherit someone. She never did, then had to move into a care home with dementia so it was never updated. Said relative received their inheritance this week which they've taken and acknowledged, never acknowledged my Nan's death  (I tried on the 4th occasion I resorted to a note thru her door) or funeral but took the money and in the meantime  relative has fallen out with all family members inc me but Nan could have changed it when she still had capacity and didn't so what she put stands.

We're currently sorting out our will and tbh questioned if we needed one as we were happy to do what intestacy would. Then the solicitor made us consider scenarios we'd not even thought about and we realised we weren't happy with what intestacy would do if we were all wiped out at once (appreciating this is an unlikely scenario). 

OP - See if you can figure out where step-Dad has got the info from. I'm hoping it's more of a case that he's mistaken rather than using a get of jail free card.   

Keep_pedalling

Mojisola said:

elsien said:

Mojisola said:

Is this an excuse he's using because he doesn't want to just say no to complying with her wishes?

Possibly. Although if she felt so strongly about her children inheriting, wouldn’t she have just made a will? 

Too many people don't make wills. 

Some of them trust that their partners will 'do the right thing' and don't think they need to.

The level of ignorance among the British public  about the importance of of making a will and putting LPAs in place is astonishing, on top of that you have a whole pile of ignorance on IHT and gifting.

Even if you have the most trustworthy spouse they can’t do the ‘right thing’ if they no longer have the capacity to do it or they die shortly after you do.

It also seems anecdotally that the people who need a will the most (unmarried couples, people with children from multiple relationships ect.) are the least likely to actually make one. 

The Lynda Bellingham case is a typical example, she knew she was dying but stupidly never made a will. How seemingly intelligent people can act so dumb is mystifying to me. 

Silvertabby

Keep_pedalling said:

Mojisola said:

elsien said:

Mojisola said:

Is this an excuse he's using because he doesn't want to just say no to complying with her wishes?

Possibly. Although if she felt so strongly about her children inheriting, wouldn’t she have just made a will? 

Too many people don't make wills. 

Some of them trust that their partners will 'do the right thing' and don't think they need to.

The level of ignorance among the British public  about the importance of of making a will and putting LPAs in place is astonishing, on top of that you have a whole pile of ignorance on IHT and gifting.

Even if you have the most trustworthy spouse they can’t do the ‘right thing’ if they no longer have the capacity to do it or they die shortly after you do.

It also seems anecdotally that the people who need a will the most (unmarried couples, people with children from multiple relationships ect.) are the least likely to actually make one. 

The Lynda Bellingham case is a typical example, she knew she was dying but stupidly never made a will. How seemingly intelligent people can act so dumb is mystifying to me. 

My mum refused to make a Will even when she knew that she was dying because it was 'unlucky'.  She trusted my dad, who was also terminally ill, to leave the house to my sister and myself, presumably by not making a Will either.

After mum's death, my sister started on dad......"this was her home and Silvertabby was married with her own home" etc.  He gave in and made a Will leaving the £30K  house (there wasn't anything else) to her alone.

In this case, though, I truly believed that I dodged a bullet as had we co-owned the house I would have had to pay all the bills "because it was also my house, she had no money, and it was mum and dads dying wishes that she should have a roof over her head for the rest of her life".

Then she went bankrupt less than 2 years later and lost the lot.

Keep_pedalling

Silvertabby said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Mojisola said:

elsien said:

Mojisola said:

Is this an excuse he's using because he doesn't want to just say no to complying with her wishes?

Possibly. Although if she felt so strongly about her children inheriting, wouldn’t she have just made a will? 

Too many people don't make wills. 

Some of them trust that their partners will 'do the right thing' and don't think they need to.

The level of ignorance among the British public  about the importance of of making a will and putting LPAs in place is astonishing, on top of that you have a whole pile of ignorance on IHT and gifting.

Even if you have the most trustworthy spouse they can’t do the ‘right thing’ if they no longer have the capacity to do it or they die shortly after you do.

It also seems anecdotally that the people who need a will the most (unmarried couples, people with children from multiple relationships ect.) are the least likely to actually make one. 

The Lynda Bellingham case is a typical example, she knew she was dying but stupidly never made a will. How seemingly intelligent people can act so dumb is mystifying to me. 

My mum refused to make a Will even when she knew that she was dying because it was 'unlucky'.  She trusted my dad, who was also terminally ill, to leave the house to my sister and myself, presumably by not making a Will either.

After mum's death, my sister started on dad......"this was her home and Silvertabby was married with her own home" etc.  He gave in and made a Will leaving the £30K  house (there wasn't anything else) to her alone.

In this case, though, I truly believed that I dodged a bullet as had we co-owned the house I would have had to pay all the bills "because it was also my house, she had no money, and it was mum and dads dying wishes that she should have a roof over her head for the rest of her life".

Then she went bankrupt less than 2 years later and lost the lot.

It is fortunate that you see it that way, in many families the lack of a will or an unfair will can leave a bitter legacy that can go on for decades.

I have heard of people who consider it unlucky to make a will, do they think if they don’t they will never die? 

Silvertabby

Keep_pedalling said:

Silvertabby said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Mojisola said:

elsien said:

Mojisola said:

Is this an excuse he's using because he doesn't want to just say no to complying with her wishes?

Possibly. Although if she felt so strongly about her children inheriting, wouldn’t she have just made a will? 

Too many people don't make wills. 

Some of them trust that their partners will 'do the right thing' and don't think they need to.

The level of ignorance among the British public  about the importance of of making a will and putting LPAs in place is astonishing, on top of that you have a whole pile of ignorance on IHT and gifting.

Even if you have the most trustworthy spouse they can’t do the ‘right thing’ if they no longer have the capacity to do it or they die shortly after you do.

It also seems anecdotally that the people who need a will the most (unmarried couples, people with children from multiple relationships ect.) are the least likely to actually make one. 

The Lynda Bellingham case is a typical example, she knew she was dying but stupidly never made a will. How seemingly intelligent people can act so dumb is mystifying to me. 

My mum refused to make a Will even when she knew that she was dying because it was 'unlucky'.  She trusted my dad, who was also terminally ill, to leave the house to my sister and myself, presumably by not making a Will either.

After mum's death, my sister started on dad......"this was her home and Silvertabby was married with her own home" etc.  He gave in and made a Will leaving the £30K  house (there wasn't anything else) to her alone.

In this case, though, I truly believed that I dodged a bullet as had we co-owned the house I would have had to pay all the bills "because it was also my house, she had no money, and it was mum and dads dying wishes that she should have a roof over her head for the rest of her life".

Then she went bankrupt less than 2 years later and lost the lot.

It is fortunate that you see it that way, in many families the lack of a will or an unfair will can leave a bitter legacy that can go on for decades.

I have heard of people who consider it unlucky to make a will, do they think if they don’t they will never die? 

My mum accepted that she was dying - she had even started the preparations for her funeral.  But she was adamant that making a Will would 'really put the mockers on her'.  Sadly, seems to be a commonly held belief by her generation.

The house was in a very bad state of repair, mainly due to my dad's refusal to pay someone to do a job that he could bodge himself.  In fact, it was so bad that the Official Receiver had to sell it at auction as it was virtually unmortgageable.  Had it gone to both of us, my sister would have expected me to pay for a new damp course, doors, windows and anything else she could think of.  I know the OR wouldn't have been able to touch my half of the proceeds, but not having to deal with all the aggro was worth more than money.

boingy

As well as thinking it's unlucky there are loads of other reasons people don't make a will.

The obvious one is laziness/prevarication here are others I've come across recently amongst family and friends (wills are a hot topic due to several family deaths in recent months!)

Not wanting to think about dying.

Not wanting to discuss money and property with a stranger (this is a surprisingly popular one, especially amongst the older folks).

Not wanting to upset anyone by favouring someone else. 

Not wanting to deal with a solicitor.

Just not caring what happens to the money!

The latter is my favourite. Our exhibit is in her 50's. Single, no kids, not close to her family. She just shrugs and says the government can have it all. And that's her right, I think. Who are we to tell her any different?

And then there is our distant uncle who always refused to make a will but when he died it turned out he had one. He just didn't want to discuss it with anyone! 

Mojisola

boingy said:

The latter is my favourite. Our exhibit is in her 50's. Single, no kids, not close to her family. She just shrugs and says the government can have it all. And that's her right, I think. Who are we to tell her any different?

She might not be close to her family but, if she has any blood relations, they will get her estate.

It only goes to the government if there's absolutely no blood relatives left alive.