Can my mother divide up my grandparents estate

doormouse_2

I'm new to the Forum so please excuse me if this question has been answered before.
My Grandmother (Grandfather already deceased) died recently leaving her only asset (her house) to my mother approx value 130K. My mother wants to divide the sale of the house between my brother & myself, can she do this ? or would she/us have to pay some kind of inheritance tax ? Any advise welcome.

foxwales

The Inheritance tax threshold is £150,000 if the assets do not include any foreign assets.

So as the only and sole asset is the house at a value of £130,000 the inheritance threshold would not apply; therefore there would be no inheritance tax to pay.

As the house is now in your mothers posession; she can do with it as she likes.

doormouse_2

I read somewhere that you can only gift £3,000 per year, if this is the case how would my mother gift the value of the house?

Elaine_Wilson

She can gift any amount she likes. The consequences of gifting more than £3,000 (or £6,000 if the exemption was not used in the previous year) is that the excess is still considered as part of her estate for the next seven years.

Should she die within that period then her estate may have increased Inheritance Tax liabilities.

If her total assets including your grandmother's house are likely to exceed the IHT thresshold (which is now above £300,000) it may be better to do a Deed of Variation. This effectively rewrites your grandmother's will so that the house comes straight to you and your brother. The question of your mother making a gift does not then arise.

This approach will incur fees in drawing up the deed but they should not be too high.

123oleary

sorry i cant back it up with links or anything but i remember reading a question in a newspaper that was very similar and the answer was that you can vary a will . is the estate being dealt with by a solicitor ? if so ask him/her.