Sell a house in trust before surviving spouse has deceased

Keep_pedalling

WillowLeaf said:

Agreed, hopefully she won't ever need it and she has a reasonable pension which could help fund if ever it was. I don't want to derail the thread too much in to DoA but I would respectfully (very respectfully given the considerable help you provide) disagree that its a clear case of deliberate deprivation, given the time frames and expectations of needing help, but that'd be a discussion with the council.

Yes we obtained probate for father's estate, and the trust was set up by a solicitor so I would hope they have, but there doesn't seem to be a simple search option to check.

Never assume anything! As he died after the rules changed making IPDI trusts needing to be registered, it should have been but worth checking to make sure this iris the case

Where you say that she is under £650k, which she is, would there not be one or two lots of Residential NRB to add to the £650k? Just curious as to how it works.

If needed they would be available if needed but claiming them adds the additional complication of needing to do a full IHT return. 

WillowLeaf

Perfect, thank you.

Marcon

Brie said:

Assuming the house is sold then the children will presumably get the proceeds under the terms of the will. 

May I suggest that they set this money aside in case mom needs more care than is available from the sibling looking after her?  

My concern is that if she needs care, at home or in a care home, she now has little money to pay for it.  If she goes to the local council for assistance they will ask what she has been doing with her assets over the last several years.  When they discover she gifted a large portion to her children they will consider this deprivation of assets and look to the children to pay for the care on the basis of what they were gifted.  If everyone has spent all the money the council may start suggesting that they sell their homes or other assets to pay.  

The council won't do any such thing. If they consider she has deliberately deprived herself of assets, they will simply decline to contribute to any care costs and it'll be up to the mother and her family how things proceed from there.