Name on deeds = owner?

sevenhills

https://metro.co.uk/2023/09/22/wealthy-couple-claim-devious-nephew-stole-4000000-kensington-home-19541674/?ito=facebook|social|metroukfacebook&fbclid=IwAR2c3NCbcF9FusGy2-PZsqi16y_ft-EFy11KmnCez-mVspE4hu6BHQqyUrc

I assume that the person on the deeds is the owner, unlike the registered keeper of a vehicle?

I guess we will find out when the judge gives his ruling. But surely anyone would be unwise to put a house in someone else's name, as that would be tax evasion.

An interesting case, is the couple age relevant, people do make unwise decisions when they are older.

RHemmings

All I can say is that I wonder why the property was put in the nephew's name in the first place. I would like to know that it wasn't tax evasion or similar. I don't know whether it is such or not. But, unless I'm informed otherwise, I am wondering. And, before expressing any sort of opinion, I'd like to know why the situation arose. 

Grizebeck

You have the legal owner of title and the beneficial owner
They can be two very different things 

TBagpuss

sevenhills said:

https://metro.co.uk/2023/09/22/wealthy-couple-claim-devious-nephew-stole-4000000-kensington-home-19541674/?ito=facebook|social|metroukfacebook&fbclid=IwAR2c3NCbcF9FusGy2-PZsqi16y_ft-EFy11KmnCez-mVspE4hu6BHQqyUrc

I assume that the person on the deeds is the owner, unlike the registered keeper of a vehicle?

I guess we will find out when the judge gives his ruling. But surely anyone would be unwise to put a house in someone else's name, as that would be tax evasion.

An interesting case, is the couple age relevant, people do make unwise decisions when they are older.

The person whose name is on the deeds is the legal owner, but may not be the beneficial owner , they may hold as a trustee.

For instance, my business partners and I won the building we run our business from. My name isn't on the deeds, but we have a separate trust deed that sets out what % we each own . 

In this case, the fact that there doesn't appear to have been a trust deed means that it will come down to one person's word against the other, and any other evidence either side can bring about what ws said or intended at the time the property was purchased 

There is an argument that it would be unusual to give another person a£1.5M gift which might raise the presumption that it wasn't a gift. On the other hand, it sounds as though the aunt and and are wealthy businesspeople who own a lot of properties, so it might be reasonable to assume that they would be familiar with the basics of property ownership, and the importance of having a trust deed it a situation like this. 

There is an old saw that you must "Come to equity with clean hands" so if there were to be any suggestion that putting in in their nephew's name was done to try to evade tax tht might make it harder for them to argue they retained any interest in the property.