CGT - house to be left to me and nephews, also, house in limbo..

snickpan

Dad died in Feb, mum applied to land registry (LR) for the deeds, filled in wrong form, then died herself.  House is to be left to me and my (late) sisters children.  I've heard different equations about CGT, if I sell the house and get half, £175k, will it add to my tax bill?  Their dad and I want to look after their money, and dole it out for sensible spendings, if I approach LR to put their names on the deeds, would the payout then legally go to them, not giving the grownups a chance to supervise?  They may hand it over to us of course.  If I put the house in my name only, would that subsequently MASSIVELY affect my capital gains, cutting into the percentage of 'profit', therefore cutting into what the nephews would get.
And.... do I even need to change the names on the titles at LR, could it go straight from Dad's name, to whoever buys?
I've been dawdling for 6 weeks, not sure what my first step should be....
Family law?  Conveyancer?

Flugelhorn

I am sorry to hear that you have had such a bad year. 
Presume mum jointly owned the property with Dad? 
Did mum leave a will or is this intestacy?
If you are going to sell the house then no need to change the names from your parents - it can go straight into the new owner's name - you are just acting as admin  / executor at present 
There is no CGT unless the property is sold for more than was stated on probate

penners324

I doubt there is a CGT issue.

Probate, then an IHT calculation. Is the whole estate under £650k? If so then no IHT obligation

penners324

Your first step is to apply for PROBATE

Flugelhorn

penners324 said:

Your first step is to apply for PROBATE

or letters of admin  - is there a will?

Keep_pedalling

The first thing you need to do is apply for probate, you can’t do anything with the house until you have that. Presumable you will be selling to distribute the proceeds between you and your sister’s children so there will be no need to do any transfer to yourself which would just complicate things.

Are your sister’s children adults? If not then there share will have to go in trust until they are 18 (16 in Scotland)

There should be no need to use solicitors to apply for probate and you will get plenty of help over on the Deaths, funerals and probate board if you need it. 

I think this thread really needs to be on that board so will ask the mods to move it.

RAS

Did mum or dad have a will? Who are the named executors?

What is the value of the house (approximately)? Any other assets? We assume mum and dad were married or civil partners?

How old are sister's children?

There could be up to £1m IHT allowance, depending on the value of the house, prior gifts and marital status.

If you price the house correctly for IHT purposes, there could little of no CGT to pay if it's sold.

poseidon1

snickpan said:

Dad died in Feb, mum applied to land registry (LR) for the deeds, filled in wrong form, then died herself.  House is to be left to me and my (late) sisters children.  I've heard different equations about CGT, if I sell the house and get half, £175k, will it add to my tax bill?  Their dad and I want to look after their money, and dole it out for sensible spendings, if I approach LR to put their names on the deeds, would the payout then legally go to them, not giving the grownups a chance to supervise?  They may hand it over to us of course.  If I put the house in my name only, would that subsequently MASSIVELY affect my capital gains, cutting into the percentage of 'profit', therefore cutting into what the nephews would get.
And.... do I even need to change the names on the titles at LR, could it go straight from Dad's name, to whoever buys?
I've been dawdling for 6 weeks, not sure what my first step should be....
Family law?  Conveyancer?

Your 1st port of call is a probate lawyer as soon as possible! 

Without probate or letters of administration (if mum died intestate), you have no legal authority to deal with the property.

p00hsticks

poseidon1 said:

snickpan said:

Dad died in Feb, mum applied to land registry (LR) for the deeds, filled in wrong form, then died herself.  House is to be left to me and my (late) sisters children.  I've heard different equations about CGT, if I sell the house and get half, £175k, will it add to my tax bill?  Their dad and I want to look after their money, and dole it out for sensible spendings, if I approach LR to put their names on the deeds, would the payout then legally go to them, not giving the grownups a chance to supervise?  They may hand it over to us of course.  If I put the house in my name only, would that subsequently MASSIVELY affect my capital gains, cutting into the percentage of 'profit', therefore cutting into what the nephews would get.
And.... do I even need to change the names on the titles at LR, could it go straight from Dad's name, to whoever buys?
I've been dawdling for 6 weeks, not sure what my first step should be....
Family law?  Conveyancer?

Your 1st port of call is a probate lawyer as soon as possible! 

Without probate or letters of administration (if mum died intestate), you have no legal authority to deal with the property.

I wouldn't rush it to getting a probate lawyer straight off. It may not be necessary - many estates are straightforward enough to not require a lawyer, and there is plenty of assistance on this forum. You can always get one in later if you think it is too much to deal with by yourself, but it will almost certainly slow things up.  

It's unclear if probate was completed (or required) for the father - that will depend on how the house was owned and who it was left to. If it was owned as joint tenants with the mother then the property will automatically have passed to her and all that should be required to show that is his death certificate. 

Assuming that is the case, then probate (or grant of administration if there is no will) will then be needed to sell the house after the mother's death. T/he executor of the will (if there is one) or near kin (if there isn't) would apply for this.  

As the intention appears to be to sel lthe house ASAP then there is no need to transfer the property into the beneficiaries names - the transfer from parents to buyers can be handled as part of the selling process. 

snickpan

thanks everyone!
House was in dad's name (that's how mortgages worked in the 60s!), mum got probate in July.  Dad had a will, everything to go to mum.  Mum died without a will - or not one that I've found so far!
Loving all the tips and contradictions, bungalow is probably worth £375k, the nephews are early 20s, one daft with money, one not so much 
I shall read the replies again, see what the votes are, for and against probate!

snickpan

I'll need a conveyancer, maybe I'll choose a company that can also advise on the family side of things