Giving house to step-daughter?

I would split it 3 ways with each receiving the same amount of £300k each. My reasoning is that your sd has already received £150k which was wasted on funding a wedding. Your niece and nephew should benefit from an equally generous sum.

Yes It paid for her education but could have been invested to provide another passive income. If they had bought a small flat/house when she was younger, she wouldn't be in this situation. As she would have had her own property to sell or let to generate her income with.

Equally, if she divorced then her husband would be entitled to half your house profits which you invested in their marital home. Speak to a solicitor about the legal and tax implications of gifting her the sum.

An alternative, would be to let the property but use the rental amount to top up her house deposit regularly. This way you safeguard your property in case you need it in the future because you can't predict life.

When it comes to blood relatives you are lucky if you've got good ones. Since my Mum died, I was her sole carer for 15 years, I have been in hospital for 3 months (there were actually 3 different Prime Ministers during my stay and the Queen's death and funeral) and in a care home for the last 18 months and my sister and oldest cousin have had the house emptied including all my belongings and it has been sold. The owner of the local health food shop has done far more for me whilst I have bed bound than my own blood family so don't succumb to any of that old bollocks. You have been a mother to that girl, blood or not.

Its your money to do what you want with, but you do need to future proof yourself. Make sure you don't end up in a situation where you need complex medical assistance and can't afford it. I was the very last person anyone expected to end up where I am. If anything terrible happens you may need to adapt your home, install a lift etc and if you needed 24 hour care it is better to have it in your own home with carers than in a care home. I do not recommend care homes to anyone. Neither care homes nor private carers come cheap.

If you don't need the revenue from the rental of your house you could maybe give that to your step daughter but keep hold of the property. It would then be a constant income stream without losing the house.

If you do decide to alter your will don't tell anyone the contents. Personally I wouldn't even tell your husband unless your are doing it together.

Would it not be better to gift her the house deeds in her name only, so she could get the passive income from the rent? Which would enable the borrowing for her own house to increase.

And then she can decide later in life to sell?

This would help with her own future pension then and attract less tax over the lifetime of ownership.

I will also give her leverage for life if his forbid she ever needed financial security, rather than all in one pot I.e house deposit.

£10k is not cheap for a wedding; registry office fees are under £500, so everything else is clothes and a party. It may be on the low side of average spend, and it's great to have a bigger party where finances allow, but if neither he nor his family have any money, then you could certainly have cut back.

“To me my step-daughter is my own”
She’s your daughter. And your parents are irrelevant in this consideration - don’t discuss it with them. Is it theirs? Think from the other perspective - if she’s your daughter and to her you are her mother, who is most important in your life? My opinion is that it’s your siblings role to look after their children, not yours.

I think it’s lovely you want to leave it to DSD. But I think I would hold on to it for a few more years, you never know what the future may bring. You may want a holiday home etc. You could leave it to DSD in your will or put it in trust for any future grandchildren she has.

If she had £150k (minus wedding and uni costs), she should still have enough for a deposit (with other savings her and her husband have).

Why not downsize your house to release equity for them? £600k must be quite a house in the North. That way you and your DH are both contributing to her need for a deposit on a nice family home. You would be paying capital gains on the sale of your rental property so it might be valued at £300k but some of that will go to the taxman and you may incur a further tax when you gift the remainder to your SD which is a waste. The £150k does not compensate for losing her mum at such a young age but there's many in the same boat who've not had access to that kind of money to help them along at the start of their adult life and she's still only 27.

My DH worked in finance and at that age wouldn't have had the lump sum required to contribute half to a wedding. When we got married it cost 10k (cheap) and that was all his money not mine as he took it out his bonus payment that year. Not all couples feel the need to split everything 50 50.

100% your parents have told your N & N parents your original plan.
They know it is going to potentially cause a stink

I was counting half a wedding, as she has a DH you would expect to pay half too. Unless he's living off her money, which is a different concern.

5 to 10k would be extremely cheap for a wedding these days.

As PPs have said, do not sacrifice your security and what sounds like your sole asset besides your pension - you don't know what you might need it for in the future and can will it to your SD if you want her to have it. She does not need to buy a house right now, she and her husband are young, and it sounds like they will have good purchasing power in the future. If you had the money going spare I'd say to do it, but it sounds like you'd be giving away an awful lot of your net worth which leaves you very vulnerable. Not sensible.

I would be very concerned about what SD has done with with £150k she already had, and what what means for the inheritance. University fees and living costs could be £60-70k assuming a few hours of part time work topping up, then £5k-£10k on the wedding... what on earth has happened to the rest of it??? She should have a good deposit there of £70k minimum, but it sounds like she frittered it away? If she keeps getting money handed over, there will be no inheritance left. I really wouldn't hand even more money out without having it secured into an actual house purchase and would get solicitor advice to ensure the DH doesn't walk off with it in a divorce. She will get your current house also, so you should be more concerned about ensuring she learns how to save and spend wisely at this age rather than subsidising. You may also need the money for your care, so selling the house may make sense but you need to hold some back.

Whether or not you leave a bit to niece and nephew is entirely up to you. Your parents obviously view them differently as close family to them, but you can't manufacture feelings for relatives and it's fair enough to not feel that kinship. As you are unlikely to die before your parents, it isn't clear why you are discussing this with them. If you want their views then listen, and if not don't ask for their input. Bit late perhaps now, but you could fudge it as saying you've had a rethink and set it all out fairly in your will. Then just stop talking about it!

My objection wouldn’t have anything to do with the SD, but unless you have a crystal ball, I absolutely wouldn’t be selling the house and parting with the profits. If you sold the house you could perhaps give your SD (and niece and nephew if you are close to them) a gift from that, but I’d be retaining at least 1/2 the profits after tax, in case life isn’t as smooth as hoped in the future.

Your parents can jog on. Not their money, not their decision.
The only hesitation I have is about your financial independence. Could you compromise and give her half of the money instead? That'd be a massive amount in itself, plus what she already has.

Ah you sound lovely, do what you want with your money

As it's a second home there will likely be some capital gains tax to pay on the sale, so just bear this in mind

Go for it

Agree.

How old are you?
Far too early to be selling your house and giving away the money. You may need it in the future, you and DH may want early retirement, you might divorce your DH, stepD might divorce her DH!

She is only 27, and will be set up better than most with a husband in finance. You don’t need to worry about her. Most people her age can’t put down a 450k house deposit and that’s absolutely fine.

Madness to consider giving so much money away at this stage in your life.

Keep the house, you don't know what's around the corner. You might need that money for care for you and your husband

You could easily have sold it and spent the money. There should be no expectation if you ring fencing an asset and feeling unable to access it. Do what you want. You can always reassure your parents that your niece and nephew will get something else instead.

It's a lovely thing what you want to do for your SD.

However, for your own security I would give her the house as inheritance until you pass away. Life is so unpredictable and everything can change in a second. Once you give her the money, there's no way back. What if you need an expensive treatment, surgery, etc? She wouldn't sell her house to help you.

If you needed a big spend, you could sell your house to fund it rather than the money you have on the house you live. I would give the house to the people you have a better relationship, whether that's your SD or niece/nephew.

Terrible idea. With inflation and cost of living you may need that asset to fund your retirement. Your step daughters husband works in finance - an industry known for stupidly high salaries and bonuses.

Also, your step daughter may one day divorce her husband and it would be nice if you sold the property then.

Right now her husband should be able to provide for their family.

I would do this.

My husband is leaving money to my son (not his son).

My only concern is if your SD and her partner split. You wouldn't want him to have your money. Your SD needs to speak to her solicitor about this and ensure she gets the same percentage back that she puts into the house should they split.

what about a three-way split (N, N, SD equal parts) or a two-way split (N/N 50, SD 50)

I thought you were going to say they were worried about your financial security which I could understand and empathize with, not this. Love is more important than being genetically related. Who's name is the house you currently live in in?