Deed of Variation

ggmf

Our mum passed away last summer, I was made sole executor of the will and have dealt with all the legal and financial arrangements to the point where I hope (shortly) to be able to close down the estate. I applied for Probate which was granted and will shortly (hopefully!) complete on the sale of her property. She was well withing the IHT and NBR threshold without having to use our late fathers allocations. Within her will, her grandchildren were each left a small inheritance which I have paid out.

This leaves her 3 children (my 2 siblings and I), left to equally share what remains of her estate and the proceeds of the house sale.

So to the question: I will not need all of my inheritance from the house sale, and would like to pass a portion on to our 2 children. Now, I could do this as a gift and hope to last for 7 years, but I may wish to make additional gifts to them over the next couple of years anyway. This has me thinking of setting a Deed of Variation. Can I set a Deed of variation for part of my inheritance or does it need to be the whole 100% of my allocation? Do I need my 2 siblings to agree to my Deed of Variation?

Thanks.

JGB1955

You can make a deed of variation  passing on all, or part, of your inheritance.  Your siblings have no input on how you deal with your share.

I split my inheritance (from my father,) into 3, leaving a third to each of my two children and retaining the other third.

I have no idea if my brother did something similar. It's not my concern.

powerful_Rogue

My mother recently did a deed of variation to split her sisters estate among the family.  Was a very simple process and believe it cost around £600 to do.

I'd be cautious of the DIY packs you can see online. One simple mistake and that's the taxman rubbing his hands together should the worst happen in the next 7 years.

Keep_pedalling

As long as you do it within 2 years of your mother’s death it will be fine no need to involve siblings.

PS this really belongs in the deaths funerals a and probate board, I have asked for it to be moved.

ggmf

Keep_pedalling said:

As long as you do it within 2 years of your mother’s death it will be fine no need to involve siblings.

PS this really belongs in the deaths funerals a and probate board, I have asked for it to be moved.

Thanks for your feed back.... I was unsure where to post this, but it forms part of my retirement Planning and as the title of this board suggest I thought it was relevant for me here. It may also help others in the same situation who do not frequent that board (I don't).

I know it has to be done within 2 years of death and also needs to be registered with HMRC within 6 months of setting it up. I've not been able to find a template online, but it does not have to be completed by a solicitor etc. a 'letter' detailing the amendment/arrangement is sufficient. 

Hal17

If the variation means that you need to pay more tax, you will need to send a copy to HMRC. You do not need to do this if there is no more tax to pay. There should be no need to use a solicitor to draft a deed of variation.

Keep_pedalling

ggmf said:

Keep_pedalling said:

As long as you do it within 2 years of your mother’s death it will be fine no need to involve siblings.

PS this really belongs in the deaths funerals a and probate board, I have asked for it to be moved.

Thanks for your feed back.... I was unsure where to post this, but it forms part of my retirement Planning and as the title of this board suggest I thought it was relevant for me here. It may also help others in the same situation who do not frequent that board (I don't).

I know it has to be done within 2 years of death and also needs to be registered with HMRC within 6 months of setting it up. I've not been able to find a template online, but it does not have to be completed by a solicitor etc. a 'letter' detailing the amendment/arrangement is sufficient. 

A deed of variation does not need to be registered with HMRC. Are the children minors and you are setting up blind trusts for them until they reach their 18th birthdays? 

ggmf

I'll go back to check the link that suggested that it should be registered with HMRC. Our 'children' are in excess of 18 years.

Keep_pedalling

ggmf said:

I'll go back to check the link that suggested that it should be registered with HMRC. Our 'children' are in excess of 18 years.

HMRC only need to be notified if the DOV increases the amount of IHT that needs to be paid.

https://www.gov.uk/alter-a-will-after-a-death

cfw1994

powerful_Rogue said:

My mother recently did a deed of variation to split her sisters estate among the family.  Was a very simple process and believe it cost around £600 to do.

I'd be cautious of the DIY packs you can see online. One simple mistake and that's the taxman rubbing his hands together should the worst happen in the next 7 years.

We wrote our own DoV following MiL passing.  All three siblings were happy to pass a little more directly down to the grandchildren, so all signed it.
A simple document: we signed up temporarily to Rocket Lawyer (dot com) for a template, it really doesn’t need a solicitor.

Of course anyone can choose to use a solicitor if they prefer…..but this is MoneySavingExpert!

As an aside,we also did our own wills using freewills (.co.uk) - again, a simple process, does get checked by a solicitor, although we had a previous will to compare with so could see it was right (nothing complex, & really we were only changing the executors now our children are adults).

ggmf

Thank you to @cfw1994 @powerful_Rogue and @JGB1955 for your rsponses to my post. I fail to see why @Keep_pedalling requested my post to be moved here when there are so many questions on gifting and inhertiance on the Pensions, annuities & retirement planning board.

I have asked for this thread to be deleted and hope that @Keep_pedalling remains very happy.