Will I have to pay IHT on money gifted to mother from husband then on to me?

Keep_pedalling

Roly_poly123 said:

Thank you so much for the replies to this.

There are no houses involved with mum or dad. They have been separated for a number of years but decided to remain married. 

I should probably clarify again that dad has still got three pensions and a modest amount of savings. My sister and I obviously wouldn't leave him without the means to look after himself. We envisage this would cover any care he may need in the future.

The reason he has decided to gift the money now is fairly straight forward. He has decided he just won't need it and would like us to make use of it now rather than wait until he has passed away. He has Parkinson's and is quite frail, on top of that he really isn't pc literate. He just didn't want the stress of sorting it all out himself and so decided to leave it to us to do.

I think Linton has mostly answered the question. If part was gifted to my mum would that be excluded from any future IHT calculations. The only other thing I was curious about was if there is any time limit on how long my mother would have to keep it before she could pass it on or if it would immediately become part of her estate.

The trouble is your father does not know how much he will need in the future, care costs can easily be £1500 a week, so giving the vast majority of your wealth away is foolish in the extreme. Yes you may be happy to pay for his care yourself from the gifts you receive from him but what if something happens to you in the mean time.

In your shoes, if he was insistent, I would, as his attorney, simple put the money in an account in his name but under your control and out of his knowing.