UKH

My parent has asked if they can transfer their house into my name as they have a terminal illness and want to deal with everything they can before probate. The house (no mortgage) is the only valuable asset left with everything else having been distributed between me and their partner already.

Their partner (my step-parent) has repeatedly said they would challenge the will as they aren’t happy with it being left to me, my parent’s only child. For my parent this is non-negotiable as his partner still has the proceeds set aside from the sale of their own house, which will go to their only child. Nothing would have gone to me or my parent - they agreed separate wills together.

The condition in the will was that it would be held in trust and that she could live there rent-free as long as she wanted, and that commitment is still there. They have been left more than enough money to live there, pay all bills, and have a better quality of life (financially) than before.

However, now that the house will be transferred before death, rather than put into trust, I wondered if anyone can help me understand any implications for me. I would need, I assume, a lifetime tenancy agreement with my step-parent?

Could I ever be liable if they stopped paying the utility bills, for example? Things have already gotten nasty between them about it so I’m quite cautious of how things will end up.

My parent has a solicitors appointment booked to start the process off, but I wanted to try and understand things a bit more before then so I can think of questions to ask if required.

Any advice would be appreciated.

I can't help directly with your query I'm afraid, it sounds like a tricky and delicate situation but I'd advise also getting Power Of Attorney initiated quickly if you can. The process can be quite slow so the sooner it's under way, the better. Good luck.

If your parent is still fully coherent and in a sound state of mind I would have thought that it should be possible to get a will written that cannot be challenged.

We recently had an elderly relative that had their will changed against their wishes and without them even being aware of the change whilst they were in a care home. It has not been possible to successfully challenge it in spite of multiple witnesses stating that she was not in a fit state of mind to understand the changes at the time.  If major charities that have been deprived of over £2m cannot mount a successful challenge it is hard to see how a bitter partner that has been adequately provided for could succeed.

In short there are very limited grounds to challenge a will and from what you've said I doubt any would apply.

Once a life tenancy is granted you can't evict them if the relationship turns sour but also you aren't liable if they fail to pay bills etc that's all down to them.

Seems messy. Do you need the house? If not, would be better for them to purchase it from you (or your parent), and you inherit the money instead. Surely you parent doesn't want to tie you to a non-blood relative you already have some issue with. If you still have a mortgage on your own home then the cash would be more beneficial - even if you don't - tying the value of the house in the house itself for some unknown time period is a crazy investment to leave someone.

Thank you. That was my understanding regarding the will. I think they just want it all dealing with whilst they can so it’s done and out of their hands. Though perhaps the solicitor will suggest an alternative approach. 

That would probably be an ideal situation, but they would be staying either way so for them it probably makes a lot more sense to have a cash in the bank, and rent-free living, rather than less money and owning a property. I suspect the money will be used to supplement income in lieu of a personal pension so it may well be needed in the future anyway. 

tecommend you go to a local solicitor and pay for solid legal  advice.too much money is involved for you to be asking on a public forum for advice with potential bad ideas being floated around. 

The laws and allowances for giving gifts, capital gains and inheritance are essentially intertwined as wealthy people could try to avoid inheritance tax by gifting just before they died or creating trusts just before they died (if lucky enough to have that advance notice). As a result large "gifts", benefitting from trusts, inheritance and all that needs to be done carefully to be legally correct and taxed correctly.

Get qualified advice, yes that will cost money, but it might really cost  if it is scr3wed up.

Avoid will disputes at all cost. Not only can it cause deep unhealable bitterness all round, but the lawyers end up generating giant fees and they're the only ones who benefit as astonishing amounts of money disappear into their fees.

Very sorry to hear your parent has a terminal illness, in the time they have remaining I'm sure they don't want to be stuck in the middle of a bitter dispute between you and their partner. Not least for their sake... avoid conflict if you can.

That’s all in plan. Just wanted to start understanding a bit more about it ahead of then. 

In reply to CantClimbTom:

On taxes, everything is within the threshold so we’ve been advised by the solicitor that there’s no worries there. But yeah, it sucks that it has all come down to this - it’s not how they should be spending their time! I’m fine either way, but it sounds extremely stressful for them.

It's all very well saying a properly drafted will can't be challenged, but I have family evidence where a disgruntled relative simply got a new will produced while elderly patient was in hospital under sedation and got them to sign it. Even got a nurse as one of the witnesses.

The new will was kept secret until death then "miraculously" produced. It proved unchallengeable despite the obvious underhand circumstances.

Don't underestimate bitter relatives where inheritance is concerned! 

I think you have my post and someone else's mixed up I never said a properly drafted will can't be challenged, I said there are limited grounds to do so and from what the OP said in their post there isn't enough to make a challenge out of it.

But you've kind of proven my point on the limited grounds to challenge if your family anecdote is correct because on the face of it there was a will signed in front of an independent witness, although there are ethical question marks about a medical professional witnessing a patients will.

Although in your case if someone is sedated or isolated from other family members then questions on capacity or undue influence could be put forward as a challenge to an apparently correctly executed will, but the burden would be on you to prove it not the person defending the challenge.

As others have said, it will get messy, so get the right advice, make sure you have a copy of the will or it is filed with the law firm who drafted it and get a power of attorney in place if necessary.

Sorry if I got the wrong post.

My point was even the best will, properly lodged with lawyers, will be undone by a later one which is kept secret from all until after death. 

Are they married? But anyway I’m not sure I get it - they literally sat down and made an agreement and drafted separate wills, and now the stepmother wants to challenge that?? Are you sure - it seems unlikely. But anyway, good luck to her with that.

So your parent is dying while living in a house with someone he’s fallen out with over money? As others have said, I’d be thinking about how to ensure he doesn’t experience some deathbed ‘conversion’ and sign some other will. I’m no expert but I wouldn’t be worrying about utility bills down the road so much as your parent signing the sort of power of attorney which would prevent a new will, assuming of course that he wants to prevent that.

Good luck with it; it’s a painful business.

jcm

it is worth bearing in mind that once the property is transferred it will no longer be capable of inclusion in a dodgy later will.  It will already be vested in the OP.

It sounds like a painfully complicated (and I suspect not unusual) situation, with both parents naturally wanting to leave their remaining assets to their own children. 

It's good that your parent is thinking ahead and making sure things are legally correct, but also sad that instead of making precious memories with you all, they are worrying about their loved ones falling out over money.

As others have said get good legal advice. I'm wondering if maybe a peppercorn rent rather than rent free might have advantages, but also does your parent want them to live there indefinitely, especially if they subsequently move on and find someone else. (Sorry if that's insensitive, but I'm assuming they are still relatively young so it's a possibility given time)

Is it possible to sign a power of attorney that would prevent a new will?

In light of the experience with our elderly relative that would have prevented the fraud. Although a fairly shady "inheritance advisor" was involved who should really have spotted that the  person signing the will was tired, confused and incapable of remembering what they had signed when asked by the care home staff just hours later.

My (lay persons) understanding is that if enacted upon a power of attorney basically removes the person's right (capability) to make decisions on their own behalf, so yes even if they signed something it wouldn't be valid as they have been deemed medically incapable of making that decision.

HOWEVER a power of attorney itself will do absolutely nothing unless enacted. For example my parents have completed all the forms, but currently nothing is in place as they are both more than capable - come the time they are needed it makes the process of myself taking charge of their finances much easier and cheaper, plus protects them from being coerced into signing things.

I'm a little confused. Was the step parent ok with the will before which I assume set out that you would get the house but they would have a life tenancy. It's seems difficult to see that anyone could consider this unreasonable and worth disputing. Are they just upset by the gifting before the will? In which case may they feel vulnerable that this could leave them without the security of the life tenancy that the will would give?

How are you going to decide when to enact it, isn't delaying it likely to make it problematic/stressful? If they trust you to manage their finances when they aren't capable, I don't understand why they they wouldn't register it now. I helped manage my aunties finances for several years before she was unable to herself. 

Again on the medical side, how do you know when that time comes? It was fall that resulted in a significant decline in my auntie and some stressful decisions that needed to be made in consultation with paramedics, immediately. Having to apply to enact the LPA at that point would have made a difficult situation significantly worse. Fortunately we had registered it over a decade earlier. 

It's all registered with the solicitor. At the moment they are still fully independent and capable, so their finances are none of my business. 

With my granny, when she reached the point where she was no longer capable mum enacted it and close relatives were all written to and asked if they objected (Kind of a double protection I guess).

Me and my brother having LPA for my Aunt  back to before dad pass away 16 years ago. As you say, they were essentially none of our business for a decade or so. If we thought they were, and even worse we did something, wouldn't it make us unsuitable as attourneys?

For a gradual decline I can see that not being a problem, but for something more sudden? It could have certainly resulted in a very different outcome for my Aunt. I'm talking about having a few minutes to make a decision, not time to write to other relatives. 

Edit. Minutes is being a bit dramatic, the same evening as the fall, so hours is probably better. 

Well currently they are both in reasonably good health and each others NOK with joint finances, I'm also the only child so no need to argue with relatives if/when it falls on my shoulders.

I'm guessing maybe it's more complicated with an aunt where you probably aren't the legal NOK. Actually that's something I should think about with my own aunt, as she isn't even a blood relative.

However a close friend was recently asked to decide to agree to a risky but necessary emergency surgery for their mum. No power of attorney, but she no longer has the capacity to understand and he is NOK.

Yep. My parent has already decided to give her 40% of the non-property assets which was suppose to put an end to it (well 30% at first, but then they asked for more). That has already been distributed out as cash. Now the house is the only thing left to try and get, hence he want’s it out of his control ASAP. 

Yep it’s an awful situation!

Surely there comes a point where they simply tell their partner to get out? They have already been given a lot of money, reneged on the agreement for separate wills and are getting nasty about the house. If you can't respect someone's wishes around the distribution of their assets you shouldn't be surprised to receive nothing in their will.

I can see that when there is agreement then not having an enacted PoA isn't a problem. In our case we were making a decision that was different so effectively over ruling the Paramedics/Doctors. They weren't comfortable at the time, but with hindsight we were lucky and made the best decision. We were basically told afterwards that even with PoA, if I hadn't actually travelled to be on sight they might still have gone against our requests. 

It does seem bizarre that your dad's partner is unhappy. Depending on the age of the partner the life tenancy will have massive impact on the value of the house. If anything you seem to be getting the poorer end of this arrangement. One possible downside of gifting prior to death is that it could lead to a higher capital gains tax bill if the property is eventually liable for this. If the acquisition value is low because of the life tenancy this will obviously increase the gain when it is sold.

SOD a life tenancy then. Tell them they can remain in the property for 12 months, then pay rent at 50% of a commercial rate for a further two years - after that they get F all and you either tell them to move it, or start charging a commercial rent. (A year to adjust to bereavement and a further two years to get their finances in order to live independently)

Better still kick them out on their ear now - although all the stress would probably not be good for your parent and ultimately it's their mental wellbeing that matters most at the moment.

I'm guessing they are seeing your parents house increase in value whilst the savings from selling theirs are being eroded by low interest rates. This obviously affects your step siblings subsequent inheritance, BUT they should have thought about the possibility of that before agreeing separate wills - I'm sure if interest rates had been high coupled with a housing crash, they wouldn't have been offering you any extra.

EDIT - if you can don't let step parent know about the transfer of ownership, that way any agro is keep away from your parent. You can save that bombshell for you to deal with, and then decide how generous to be with regards how long they stay based on how they react - nasty and aggressive, three months notice from a solicitor to get out.

this discussion raises some useful points to consider

https://trustsdiscussionforum.co.uk/t/responsibilities-of-life-tenant/8099

The other view point is that your parent cannot decide what to do and is a yes to anybody person  and cannot be bothered to sort it out. After all the arguments on this will be decided when they have passed away. Whatever they decide somebody is going to be unhappy … either you or your step parent. And your parent cannot solve this even when they are alive.

i would possibly think about what happens if you having nothing from the will and plan around that. Anything else is then a bonus, after all you have your own life to lead.Better get on with that.   

you have also not said how long your parent has been in partnership with your step parent. 

The key thing is the age of the partner. Fairly obviously the younger they are the less sensible this kind of arrangement is. Say it is likely to be another 25 years before you get any benefit from the property I think you may be surprised how little it is worth to you now.