AIBU - inheritance sad story

There is a thing called gifts with reservations, basically where a gift isn't really a gift it is trying to get round IHT or similar. Gifting a house but continuing to live in it rent free could well be one of those situations.

He has done something very foolish and now regrets his actions.
Also to leave the house to only two of his children was shortsighted to say the least.
But, it was his decision and he has gifted his house.You don't ask someone for a birthday present back do you, so why would you ask for a house back, just because its worth more,its no less a gift.
Sometimes parents do odd things: mine gave my brother their house and half their money in their will but shared my half out with my children then when advised by solicitor that families argue over such unfairness, mother said my brother and I would never argue over money. She got that wrong.

Would she though as she is not inheriting the house? She has owned it since he gifted it to her and sibling years ago.

Your Mum and her sibling would face a Capital Gains Tax liability if they gave the house to him. The percentage varies depending on her earnings, but it is quite a hefty bill. He is naïve and unreasonable to expect that of them.

Broadly speaking: a gift is a gift. That’s the whole point. Your Mum and her sibling should perhaps consider offering more than 2 years, but that is their business, not yours. You weren’t there when the gift was made either.

Lastly, if your grandfather is living in it, he should be paying rent. Otherwise your mother may face an inheritance tax bill when he dies.

Thanks! I realised that I had left my comment it was an old thread. I think it was made up anyway! Who does that? 🤣

This was last November he may not even be here anymore and the OP never came back after the initial post 🤭.

The bottom line is you don’t know the reasoning of why he chose to sign his house over to just two of his five children when he was in his 50s. This is an unusual thing to do and all he needed to do to prevent his money going to charity would have been to write a will! So surely there is more to this story than you know? However, he did sign it over and this alone would have had a financial consequence to your mum and the other sibling as it would have been classed as owning a second property which does not get the same tax benefits and any stamp duty they had to pay would have been double the normal cost etc. Then there is the matter of tax on any rental income … assuming granddad paid rent? If he didn’t then that is another financial consequence in terms of inheritance tax but also means Grandad and new wife have had a place to live rent free for the last 25 years? It’s not a simple case of just returning the house back to him.. there will be lots of financial penalties for doing this and still inheritance tax to pay at some point. Also even if the house was returned to Grandad, assuming he dies first then the house would automatically be left to his wife … and what’s to say she just leaves everything in her will to her daughter and cuts the other five siblings out? So your Mum doesn’t get anything! (A clause could/would need to be written in grandad’s will to prevent this from happening). But it is a whole can of financial worms before you even start on the morality of it!
Even if you think your Grandad is not being treated fairly … it was a really odd thing for him to do and if he was worried about where his wife is going to live after he dies why didn’t he try to sort it after he remarried, or on the birth of his 6th child rather than wait until he’s 85?
Something is not adding up here, I think you would be best to put your energy into enjoying time with your grandad and staying out of this!

Thank God you're here. We've been waiting since November.

He has done something very foolish and now regrets his actions.
Also to leave the house to only two of his children was shortsighted to say the least.
But, it was his decision and he has gifted his house.You don't ask someone for a birthday present back do you, so why would you ask for a house back, just because its worth more,its no less a gift.
Sometimes parents do odd things: mine gave my brother their house and half their money in their will but shared my half out with my children then when advised by solicitor that families argue over such unfairness, mother said my brother and I would never argue over money. She got that wrong.

I’m going to break this down as easily as possible.

my grandad who is now 86 had 5 children. (The eldest is my mum)
he split up with my grandma when the children were young.
all the children are now obviously grown up in their 60s.
all of them have wife’s / husbands and their own children. They ALL live good lives and have done well for themselves are by NO means hard up.

my grandad has worked hard all his life and paid his house off etc and was alone for a long long time with not much quality of life. He then met someone and married her and had a daughter later on in life when he was late 50s. This child is grown up now too. He is still with his wife now and has been for 25 years ish. Sorry my numbers aren’t the best and it’s not really relevant.

the whole family welcomed wife and the new child and I must say she’s always been lovely she’s a lovely woman. The daughter they had I loved and still do very much. My grandad has always been a good grandad to us. I have fond memories with him and I love him loads.

so here’s the crunch….
before he met his wife he put his house in the 2 eldest children’s names (my mum included) his train of thought was if anything happened to him or he got ill etc they’d have that house and all those things and he didn’t want it to end up in a charity or whatever I don’t know.

3 years ago as he’s getting very old now he asked them to sign the house back to him as his wife has lived there with him 25 years now and it’s her HOME and their daughter lives there too. She works part time. He’s obviously planning not being here anymore
they have refused him the house and have said when he dies she can stay for 2 years to get on her feet and find somewhere then they will sell it and split the money between the 5 children.

there argument is he left when they were kids and this new child got more of him than they did growing up.
I personally think this is very revengeful of my mum and greedy and not morally right? My grandad is very depressed and cries and I just hate that this is how the end of his life looks. He said his wife has been there the most for him and loved and looked after him and she’s gonna be left in a mess when he goes and she’s doesn’t deserve it. Which I agree.

I’ve told my mum it’s his house. He paid for it. He worked for it. Give it him back. Am I being soft ?? What do you think?? I just personally feel disapointed in them.
may I add nobody visited him often or cared to see him much but they want his house and money?

they’ve all said wife will have his pension that’s enough. Which is about 500 a month I think.

I just can’t stop thinking about him and I’m the only one in the family who has said how he’s being treated is discusting. They think he’s cruel taking the house back but at the end of the day he bought the house and his life situations have changed now and all the kids are so well off with their own businesses etc they don’t NEED it. Xxx

Actually, I can't stand her or her family and haven't had any contact with her for close on 15 years, but that's not the point. She was Dad's wife for 25 years after we lost mum and as much as I dislike her, she was my dad's choice and her care of him (which was very good) during their marriage should be recognised. Also, just like OP's mum and aunts/uncles, my siblings and I don't need my parents money (it was actually more my mum's money BTW) as we're all very comfortable. I couldn't sleep at night having some extra money that we don't need whilst knowing that Dad's wife was really struggling. It's simply about doing the right thing, regardless of your personal feelings about someone.

And even if he is now, he wasn't 25-years-ago when he chose to give away his house.

Why is he a vulnerable adult?

Have you thought of him having an assessment as a vulnerable Adult via social services? Just a thought it may help as his circumstances have changed

If they are married she will have a life interest in the property won't she? So they can't sell untill she passes. Check with a solicitor but I'm sure there's case law to this effect.

There totally is. If there's any truth to this, I'd bet on OP being the youngest child.

This happened to cousins of mine. The house was theirs (they had inherited from their mother), when the dad died they allowed the wife to continue living there as long as she wanted.