Dads death and probate

maglo

My dad died just before Christmas,

About 12 years ago he put the house £300 grand into a trust between dad,mum(both now deceased mum before dad ) and me and sister

He also left about 140 grand in bank acc

From what I can gather when filling out the probate paperwork do I work out his part of the house as a third of 300 ie 100 grand or the whole of the house value

Do you think I’d be better off employing a solicitor or doing it myself???
thank you in advance Mike

sammyjammy

What happened to Mums share when she passed?

Keep_pedalling

Unfortunately putting the house in trust has turned a simple probate in a far more complex one. As your parents continued to live in the house it would never have fallen out of their estate for IHT purposes.

Do you know who the trustees of the trust are?

I would strongly advise you to take professional advice from a STEP solicitor who is qualified to deal with the trust this is not something you should DIY.

mebu60

Who lived in the property after it was placed into a trust and did they pay market rate rent to the trust?

What is the house worth now? If you are able to carry forward your mother's nil rate IHT and add it to your father's you will have £650k without the residence nil rate band so the estate may well still be exempt from IHT.

But as @Keep_pedalling says the trust has rather complicated things. It could also make you and your sister liable for CGT on any increase in value of your respective shares from when it was placed in trust.

A STEP solicitor may be a wise move.

maglo

I shall see a step solicitor but my parents stayed in the house after the trust was set up adding me and my sister to the trust??? House is worth about 300 now and I thought we were the trustees of the house?? As this is not my field I’m clueless sorry

Keep_pedalling

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81887555#Comment_81887555

I asked because most of these frankly useless trusts were sold some dodgy outfits some who also made themselves trustees.

Most lay people and have no clue about trust law and taxation. I know enough that I would not touch this sort of trust with a long barge pole.

poseidon1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81887555#Comment_81887555

If you can provide appropriately redacted wording for the trust document I can provide an opinion of the implications of the trust terms following your father's demise. This opinion should provide useful insight prior to discussions with the STEP lawyer in due course.

The fact that you indicate you and your sister were trustees, is promising since that suggests you may not have become actual beneficiaries until both parents were deceased. However, I need to see the trust wording to be sure.

Incidentally, did a firm of solicitors set up this trust or was it a will writing firm?

In addition since it seems very unlikely the trust was established to avoid IHT, are you aware whether it was actually sold to your parents as a care home fees avoidance scheme or avoid ?