Transferring Ownership of Tenants in Common to Beneficiary.

Chococat7

My parents changed their flat ownership from 'joint tenants' to 'tenants in common' and in each of their wills they left their share to me.  

My dad passed away last month so I applied for probate myself online and was really surprised that it was granted this week, after just 19 days. However, I don't understand what I need to do next to transfer my dad's half of the property to me. I have no intention of doing anything with it until my mum passes or if she needs nursing care.

Please can anybody advise me on what I need to do to transfer ownership?  I don't really understand anything I've read online! Is this something I should let a solicitor deal with?

Thank you in advance. 

p00hsticks

I'm not sure, but what (if anything) the wills say about giving the surviving spouse the right to continue living in the property may be relevant here ?

Keep_pedalling

Did your father’s will not leave your mother a life interest in his share? That would be the normal and most tax efficient way in this situation. If you have been left his share without her having a life interest it may be better to make a deed of variation to put one in place. 

Chococat7

Thank you for your replies.

No there was nothing in the will about my mum's right to be living there, and I would not dream of selling my share whilst she is still happy there. She has Alzeimers, so the only reason it may need to be sold in future is if she were to need nursing care; this is the reason the flat was changed to 'tenants in common'.

I did Google what a deed of variation is, but I don't think this is necessary for tax reasons. The estate, even if it were to have been both half of the flats, and the money that was in my parents joint savings account is under the inheritance tax threshold. Regarding capital gains, I need to do a bit more research, but I may not need to pay it as I don't own a property and when the kids are older, and if my mum passes having not needing to have nursing care, I would live in the flat.

Keep_pedalling

Chococat7 said:

Thank you for your replies.

No there was nothing in the will about my mum's right to be living there, and I would not dream of selling my share whilst she is still happy there. She has Alzeimers, so the only reason it may need to be sold in future is if she were to need nursing care; this is the reason the flat was changed to 'tenants in common'.

I did Google what a deed of variation is, but I don't think this is necessary for tax reasons. The estate, even if it were to have been both half of the flats, and the money that was in my parents joint savings account is under the inheritance tax threshold. Regarding capital gains, I need to do a bit more research, but I may not need to pay it as I don't own a property and when the kids are older, and if my mum passes having not needing to have nursing care, I would live in the flat.

I would still do a deed of variation for a couple of reasons. The first is CGT. With no immediate post-death interest trust (IPDIT) in place if you have to sell the mouse any gain in value from the date of your father’s death may leave you with a CGT liability. More importantly as it stands you will loose your first time buyer status, an IPDIT would avoid that. There is a strong chance that residential care will eventually be required so you could well be looking to purchase somewhere else rather than take over the flat.

The trust would also provide your mother with additional security should anything happen to you such as death, divorce or bankruptcy. These risks may be small but the consequences could be disastrous. 

A deed of variation can be done within 2 years of your father’s death, so another option is to wait for another year to see how things pan out with your mother’s health. 

Do you have financial power of attorney in place for her?

p00hsticks

Chococat7 said:

Regarding capital gains, I need to do a bit more research, but I may not need to pay it as I don't own a property 

As things stand, if you are not living in the property then you are building up a potential CGT liability - whether or not you own another property is irrelevant.  

msb1234

One thing to be aware of is if your mum will need residential care in the future. If she no longer has capacity to make decisions she may not be able to sell the house - I was in this position with my stepfather. I had to apply to the Court of Protection to obtain Deputyship for property and affairs and as my mum’s executor I was then able to sell the house. It took 6 months to get the Deputyship and I wasn’t able to put the house on the market until then. 

Chococat7

Thanks again for all of your input.

keep_pedalling - Thanks so much for your detailed response, but it all sounds complicated, I think doing probate myself was the easier part! Unfortunately, I will never be in a position to buy a property. I am living in private rental but my husband passed away 2 years ago and although I'm self employed I am on a low income. I don't get any help as I have too much in savings and I'm still supporting our kids, who are aged between 18-21 yrs old and at uni. I have financial POA for my mum. I was diagnosed with cancer last year (I've come through it okay), so I set up the kids to have financial POA for myself. I also made a will stating that any money and property I own to be split between them. So, I was hoping to keep things simple, to just put dad's half of the flat in my name and if anything happens to me the kids would inherit it. Both parents wills state that if I die before my children, then my inheritance passes to them.

p00hsticks - Thank you

msb1234 - Thank you. That must have been very stressful for you and sounds extremely complicated! I do have POA for mum, so hopefully this would make it easier for me if we ended up in that situation.