What happens if a house if left in a will but sold before death?

[Thedarksideofthemoon30]

Just that. What happens if say someone leaves a house in a will to somebody but the house is then sold while relative is in a care home by another relative?

And what happens to the money from the sale of the house?

The money would be used to pay for care in the care home.

I’m guessing the house has been sold and the proceeds haven’t been used for care home fees.

Was the house sold legally?

If the house is sold you cant inherit it.
I would assume the money left over would go to the benefactor.
Some people have an assumption that because its stated in the will son/ daughter will inherit the house it can't be sold to oay for care home fees but this isnt true. A will only comes into effect once a person dies, when theybare alive they own the property so it is considered their asset when care home fees need to be paid.

Did the relative selling the house have POA?

Yes, the POA sold the house. The money barely touched the care home fees.

The money is used for care and then it’s part of the dead persons estate when they did. The money will go to NoK.

The POA would have to sell the house in order for the care fees to be paid.
Whatever money is left from the house (if any) would then go as the persons will states.

I don't think anything happens. You can only inherit what a person has. If I put in my will that I would give 20k to someone, but subsequently died with no money, then they would get nothing. I would think the same would apply to a home.

The money barely touched the care home fees

Do you mean it wasn't enough to cover the care home fees?

If so, then there is presumably nothing left to leave to anyone in a will, so in answer to your original question, nothing happens at all. There is no estate to be passed on, and so the will is irrelevant.

You don’t get the house or a penny, basically. But in all decency you should be gifted something from the estate before or after the person who got the cash.

One perfectly legal trick people with POA do is sell everything they aren’t going to inherit themselves to make sure their own inheritance is left untouched by care fees, and preferably increased.

But it is right up against the limits of protection law (not will law) so I’d have a quiet word.

@Thedarksideofthemoon30

Yes, the POA sold the house. The money barely touched the care home fees.

Then there is no house left to leave to anyone.

Sounds like the POA did the right thing and it was perfectly legal for them to do so to pay the care fees. Who is paying the excess fees?
In the case of the will, there’s no house, so nothing to inherit.

There is no house to inherit. It was, quite rightly, sold and used to pay care home debts.

Has the money been used for care home debts?

Sorry I meant the carehome fees were much less than the house sold for.

Assuming the house sale has now legally completed - there is now no house to inherit.

Whether the person will now inherit anything will depend on the specific wording of the will in terms of how remaining assets should be divided between the beneficiaries.

@Thedarksideofthemoon30

Yes, the POA sold the house. The money barely touched the care home fees.

I take it that you mean "the money was barely enough to pay the care home fees" . So in other words all the money was used to pay for the care home. So there is nothing to inherit, that's how it works sometimes. Sorry.

Do you have a copy of the will? The terms in there should tell you who will inherit the residue.

Yes the will should explain how to divide up the estate. Is it with a solicitor?

It’s with the solicitor, it’s not gone to probate yet so unsure what it says. It just makes me sad as he was desperate not to sell his house and he had money to be able to pay for the carehome fees without needing to sell it. He didn’t even want to be in a care home and POA made him, he could have easily had a career at home and been happy for the last few years.

Nothing “happens”. The house is sold so that gift in the will is void as the deceased didn’t own the relevant asset at the time of death. Any money left in the estate gets divied up according to what the will says about the rest of the estate e.g. if the will said house goes to A with the residue of my estate to B, then B gets the cash.

I presume there is something behind the scenes like a was the POA and sold the house and OP thinks they did it so they get the cash rather than her having the house, in which case it would be looking at whether there is a claim for breach of duty/ illegal sale by the POA, though I don’t think a potential future beneficiary of a will would have a claim in those circumstances, as the POA only owes duties to the donor of the POA. Specialist legal advice would be needed on that point.

Sorry you lost out OP, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes. If the deceased wanted you to benefit for the house or an amount up to the value if it had been sold they should have said so in the will. A really good example of why getting legal advice on a will is a good idea if it’s in any way more complicated that leaving everything to one person.

As there is money left after paying the care home fees it will be part of the deceased person's estate. I would have thought you would be entitled to some of this. Ask the solicitor about it.

Sorry, my we don’t know if he left the house to anyone it’s just a wonder.

Is the issue here that the property was sold by the POA when there was sufficient other 'free' funds not to have needed to do this to meet the fees?

Does the POA stand to benefit from the Will in terms of cash assets in the estate but would not have benefitted from the house as a fixed asset?

Is this something akin to a step-parent/1st marriage child scenario here, where the house was specifically deeded to the child of the first marriage but cash assets go to the spouse and/or subsequent children?

If so, that's an iffy thing to have done but I don't know if it's illegal. Morally, the remaining proceeds of the house should be dealt with as the Will stated the property should have been. But legally, it may be down to the specific wording of the Will.

You need a copy of the Will and a conversation with the Probate Solicitor sharpish, OP.