Mirror Wills or Mutual Wills

critchley

Thanks everyone but it gets worse.  My son came round today and sorted out all the old documents that we have here and he found a document that I signed when my partner applied for a mortgage to buy into the property (as I thought) but it says I signed it all over to him.  Young and foolish springs to mind of course.  Well I didn't even know the implications about Inheritance Tax etc.  The covering solicitor's letter even advised us to make Wills at the time but again you don't think about dying in your 30s or the devastating results of not being married.  So I own nothing unless the Will stands up and I get it all.  In which case I have to pay Inheritance Tax on all of both properties.  

Lord knows how I will do that if I can't even raise money against the properties until after Probate which I presume is when I might officialy own it.  I can't wait to see what the Solicitor says about it all.  (Well yes, that's a lie because I don't think I really want to know)

Hope everyone has a good Christmas xx

Keep_pedalling

critchley said:

Thanks everyone but it gets worse.  My son came round today and sorted out all the old documents that we have here and he found a document that I signed when my partner applied for a mortgage to buy into the property (as I thought) but it says I signed it all over to him.  Young and foolish springs to mind of course.  Well I didn't even know the implications about Inheritance Tax etc.  The covering solicitor's letter even advised us to make Wills at the time but again you don't think about dying in your 30s or the devastating results of not being married.  So I own nothing unless the Will stands up and I get it all.  In which case I have to pay Inheritance Tax on all of both properties.  

Lord knows how I will do that if I can't even raise money against the properties until after Probate which I presume is when I might officialy own it.  I can't wait to see what the Solicitor says about it all.  (Well yes, that's a lie because I don't think I really want to know)

Hope everyone has a good Christmas xx

If you have inherited his estate (I actually think you probable have) then you can go ahead with probate and an IHT return. Where much of the estate is tied up in illiquid assets you can opt to pay IHT in instalments over anything up to 10 years so as long as you have at least 10% of the total bill available (which seems to be the case) you don’t have to worry about that now.

I know it’s hard but try not to dwell on this,  your solicitor will be able to clear up your position when they have had a chance to view the will and other documents.

I also think the signing over of the ownership needs to be discussed with your solicitor as that sounds like you were fooled into signing something that you did not fully understand which is coercion. 

mattojgb

Given that there are two "properties", I'm not sure that this changes anything. We already know that your ex solely owned the freehold property and that you were joint owner of the leasehold property.

critchley

mattojgb said:

Given that there are two "properties", I'm not sure that this changes anything. We already know that your ex solely owned the freehold property and that you were joint owner of the leasehold property.

But according to the document we found today, I am not the Tenant in Common of the flat we lived in together all these years because I apparently signed it all over to him when he got his own mortgage and paid off mine which I had originally when I first bought it before he moved in with me.  

So there is the freehold flat in his sole name and the leasehold flat we lived together in also in his sole name.  Every day something else bad seems to turn up.  I honestly don't remember signing anything to that effect but there it is in black and white so I don't think there is any doubt about it.  It means that instead of only paying IHT on half our flat I will have to pay it on all of it I presume.  

mattojgb

I'm pretty sure you have found another out of date document. Land registry have the up to date information.

Flugelhorn

critchley said:

mattojgb said:

Given that there are two "properties", I'm not sure that this changes anything. We already know that your ex solely owned the freehold property and that you were joint owner of the leasehold property.

But according to the document we found today, I am not the Tenant in Common of the flat we lived in together all these years because I apparently signed it all over to him when he got his own mortgage and paid off mine which I had originally when I first bought it before he moved in with me.  

So there is the freehold flat in his sole name and the leasehold flat we lived together in also in his sole name.  Every day something else bad seems to turn up.  I honestly don't remember signing anything to that effect but there it is in black and white so I don't think there is any doubt about it.  It means that instead of only paying IHT on half our flat I will have to pay it on all of it I presume.  

the Land Registry info is the definitive source  which shows that you are the joint owner of the leasehold flats (there are 2 I think) and that your late husband own the freehold of the building in his name 

FlorayG

Flugelhorn is right - the Land Registry accept nothing except what they have on THEIR records, so I wouldn't worry about the uncovered document. Possibly your partner neglected to record the document you signed with them and now it's too late for that

Emmia

Flugelhorn said:

critchley said:

mattojgb said:

Given that there are two "properties", I'm not sure that this changes anything. We already know that your ex solely owned the freehold property and that you were joint owner of the leasehold property.

But according to the document we found today, I am not the Tenant in Common of the flat we lived in together all these years because I apparently signed it all over to him when he got his own mortgage and paid off mine which I had originally when I first bought it before he moved in with me.  

So there is the freehold flat in his sole name and the leasehold flat we lived together in also in his sole name.  Every day something else bad seems to turn up.  I honestly don't remember signing anything to that effect but there it is in black and white so I don't think there is any doubt about it.  It means that instead of only paying IHT on half our flat I will have to pay it on all of it I presume.  

the Land Registry info is the definitive source  which shows that you are the joint owner of the leasehold flats (there are 2 I think) and that your late husband own the freehold of the building in his name 

It is a small but important point, the OP wasn't actually married to the deceased which means that IHT will be due. 

Flugelhorn

Emmia said:

Flugelhorn said:

critchley said:

mattojgb said:

Given that there are two "properties", I'm not sure that this changes anything. We already know that your ex solely owned the freehold property and that you were joint owner of the leasehold property.

But according to the document we found today, I am not the Tenant in Common of the flat we lived in together all these years because I apparently signed it all over to him when he got his own mortgage and paid off mine which I had originally when I first bought it before he moved in with me.  

So there is the freehold flat in his sole name and the leasehold flat we lived together in also in his sole name.  Every day something else bad seems to turn up.  I honestly don't remember signing anything to that effect but there it is in black and white so I don't think there is any doubt about it.  It means that instead of only paying IHT on half our flat I will have to pay it on all of it I presume.  

the Land Registry info is the definitive source  which shows that you are the joint owner of the leasehold flats (there are 2 I think) and that your late husband own the freehold of the building in his name 

It is a small but important point, the OP wasn't actually married to the deceased which means that IHT will be due. 

of course - I had forgotten that point, so yes IHT is payable but the ownership is as the Land Reg 

RAS

It's not uncommon on here to find that people haven't registered important documents. I can think of two fairly recent threads when will were written based on tenancy in common and the tenancy had never been severed by the Land Registry (documents never sent).

Which was tough on the beneficiaries due to inherit the deceased's portion of the estate.