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Original poster

Using child’s inheritance to get on property ladder

530 replies

Wanttobeontheladder · 11/06/2019 12:22

We are in our late 30’s with 3 children and have been renting all our adult lives

We are desperate to get on the property ladder but I am SAHP and DH is sole earner.

After the loss of a parent recently there is a considerable inheritance that was left directly between our children rather than coming to us.

Using this money would mean we could finally get on the property ladder (just)

Seeing as the children benefit too we feel that we should use it.

Would we be unreasonable to consider this?

OP posts:
Tennesseewhiskey · 11/06/2019 21:12

Pleasebequietnow there wont be much disposable income.

OP says that it will be £300 cheaper. Then they will need to save at least £150 to pay the money back.

Plus have the costs of running a home. Such as upkeep, maintenance, building insurance. So not that much more spare.

Would most kids ask their parents to leave their home so they can have their money?

Or is it more likely that the kids, will just have to accept they wont see any money until their parents die, if at all.

BlueJag · 11/06/2019 21:14

@ if you can I absolutely would without a moment of doubt. It's an investment and your children will benefit.
The only sticky point is that once they are adults you are going to have to sell the house and give them their share.
If I were you I'll buy the house and start to put the extra money aside to build up a house fun for when you sell the house.
I think by buying a house you will multiply their investment.
If you can do it go for it.

Mumofone25391 · 11/06/2019 21:27

My mum 'borrowed' my inheritance. Out of £5000 I got back £3000, this was because every time she took me for ice-cream or we went out for the day she took the amount off the inheritance she owed me on a handy excel spreadsheet she made herself.

I didn't know she was doing this until it was too late and just assumed she was being a parent and taking me out for food/trips ect. becuase she was my mum.

I really hope you don't do this and if you do please pay them back in full and don't take their summer holidays/day trips off the debt you owe them as a work around.

Treefloof · 11/06/2019 21:28

it is in the DC's best interests, financially and socially, to purchase a home with a percentage legally held in trust for them
So if house prices crash?
If they get divorced and share proceeds of house with no chance then to buy another home, they will still be in rented accommodation, no better off?
If one parent dies and other remarries?
This mythical 300/month is eaten up with the extra bills that come with a larger house/owner related bills?
A document that can cover every eventuality would run to teams of paper and cost a fortune and still wont give these kids their money if the parents are made disabled.

Antonin · 11/06/2019 21:40

Why are o many posts fixated on the parents having to sell the house?
The will hold state the age the children will get their inheritance and in most cases testator stipulate 25 years.
That gives the parents about 20 years to pay a goodly amount of the mortgage off and at that point, provided they have bought wisely they will have enough equity to be able to remortgage in order to pay the children out.
Better the family benefits than the bank. Insurance policies are available to protect the children’s interests from such eventualities as parental incapacity etc

Sexnotgender · 11/06/2019 21:44

My mum 'borrowed' my inheritance. Out of £5000 I got back £3000, this was because every time she took me for ice-cream or we went out for the day she took the amount off the inheritance she owed me on a handy excel spreadsheet she made herself.

That’s appalling Sad

bebeboeuf · 11/06/2019 21:44

Mumofone that is awful.

NoSquirrels · 11/06/2019 21:47

My mum 'borrowed' my inheritance. Out of £5000 I got back £3000, this was because every time she took me for ice-cream or we went out for the day she took the amount off the inheritance she owed me on a handy excel spreadsheet she made herself.

Wow. That is cold.

That gives the parents about 20 years to pay a goodly amount of the mortgage off and at that point, provided they have bought wisely they will have enough equity to be able to remortgage in order to pay the children out.

It’s all fine UNLESS they do not have the equity or cannot remortgage to release the equity. At whichever point then they’d need to sell. So they need to be prepared for that as an outcome.

Sophiesdog11 · 11/06/2019 22:00

Our children's inheritance would actually be held in trust until they are 21, as if we both died it would be a considerable amount and we worry about putting that on the shoulders of an 18yo

This cant be done. At 18 they reach the age of majority

Of course it can be done, a will can be written so that the beneficiaries get the money at whatever age the deceased specifies!

It’s got nothing to do with the age of majority, the money is held in trust until the age specified by the will, be it 21, 23, 25.... I think Wills and Harry got their mums money at 30.

We have specified 23 for our two, but they also got an inheritance from a distant relative of mine with no age specified, so received it at 18. Now 19 and 21, neither have spent any of it, they are investing it for eventual house deposits. It doesn’t immediately follow that an inheritance received at 18 will get blown.

Tawdrylocalbrouhaha · 11/06/2019 22:01

That gives the parents about 20 years to pay a goodly amount of the mortgage off and at that point, provided they have bought wisely they will have enough equity to be able to remortgage in order to pay the children out.

In 20 years the parents will be pushing 60, nearing retirement, and probably not looking at massive pensions (one SAHM, one moderate earner). They will not necessarily find it easy to remortgage.

LLOE7 · 11/06/2019 22:06

I think it would be absolutely vile for you to steal your children's money to buy yourself a house so that you aren't spending as much money. Guarantee you wouldn't bother putting the money you save away for the kids either. It's not your money, don't touch it. If my parents had been that selfish I would have disowned them as soon as I was an adult.

MissConductUS · 11/06/2019 22:22

I didn't know she was doing this until it was too late and just assumed she was being a parent and taking me out for food/trips ect. becuase she was my mum.

OMG, that's appalling. It's also theft by deception as she let you assume the above. I'd talk to a solicitor about getting her to pay out the remaining funds. And she certainly wouldn't be welcome in my home until she did.

EuromumAussiekid · 11/06/2019 22:36

I don't believe you could actually legally steal your kids inheritance anyway.

EuromumAussiekid · 11/06/2019 22:40

Your poor kids will not thank you for stealing their money when they are older. What if they want it to invest etc?

Lockheart · 11/06/2019 22:57

@EuromumAussiekid a) if it's legal it's not stealing, and b) depending on what the will says the OP may very legitimately be able to use the money to buy a property.

Contraceptionismyfriend · 11/06/2019 23:09

I'm very curious why the deceased skipped you out completely.
Was it because you're awful with money?

How will you guarantee the money is safe? What if DH losses his job? What if the house gets reprocessed? What if the market crashes?

How will you ensure that your children receive their money?

AuntMarch · 11/06/2019 23:13

If my parents did this to me I'd never speak to them again

Umm...

IGottaSeeJane · 11/06/2019 23:33

It's OK only if the house (or a relevant percentage of it) is in your children's name and you pay rent for it.

justanswerthephone · 11/06/2019 23:35

If my parents did this to me I'd never speak to them again

Umm...

I don't understand this?

GroggyLegs · 12/06/2019 00:12

justanswerthephone

If anyone is receiving your parents inheritance, then nobody is going to speak to them ever again. Unfortunately.

justanswerthephone · 12/06/2019 00:15

anyone is receiving your parents inheritance, then nobody is going to speak to them ever again. Unfortunately.

I must be dense.

Person says they would never speak to their parents again.

Next person says umm...

What's ummm?

Does it mean obviously? As in obviously you wouldn't speak to them again?

GroggyLegs · 12/06/2019 00:32

Because if you're getting their inheritance, they've died.

So yes, it means 'obviously'.

GroggyLegs · 12/06/2019 00:32

Because you can't speak to dead people.

SpeckofStardust · 12/06/2019 00:44

They wouldn’t be dead though, the poster meant if her living parents stole/made use of a bequest meant for her. it would be the person who left the bequest who’d be dead.

HUZZAH212 · 12/06/2019 00:50

The kids are never going to see that inheritance past 'we bought this house to benefit you/ourselves'. That mystical spare £300 a mth will be eaten up as the kids get older, on the commute from living further out, holidays, a bigger car (all for the kids benefit of course....)

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