Inherited house

[SJMummy50]

Hi, bit of a unique one this, so not sure if anyone has similar experience. A few years ago my husband's parents transferred their house into his name but still remain living in it. It has no mortgage but husband obviously can't do anything with it whilst they still live in it (both in their 80s) but would it be counted as an asset as part of a divorce in any way? Thanks.

I am horrified that people are using the word ‘grabby’ for the OP!
The parents tried to cheat the tax system. In the UK they would have to pay a fair rent to the son to avoid inheritance tax anyway which would then be part of the marital pot.
The parents have reaped what they have sown so the house the son now owns can be offset against other assets so he keeps the German house and the OP keeps the UK one or done other arrangement. No one is saying evict the parents.
The son and the parents have tried to cheat the tax payers - more fool them.

You're going to get a lot of false 'everything is joint' advice here. Divorce is complex and, I can't stress this enough, you need proper legal advice from somebody who knows about both your assets.

In my own case it's not quite the same but it's similar I had jointly inherited a house with my brother after our parents died. He continued to live there and was still living there when my wife decided to divorce. The legal advice I got at the time was that, as the house had never been part of our lives, had never been used as a holiday home, that my brother was living there, that there was no chance of it being treated as part of the joint assets. And, ultimately, as her own solicitor didn't treat it as part of the joint assets either it played no part in the division of the assets. The repeatedly made claim that 'everything is joint, everything is split', just isn't true.

In my own view, I thought it was an appalling move on her part: both her parents were still living, though elderly, and both were far wealthier than my own parents ever were. But as for the morality, even if it's he who has had an affair, I'm afraid that kind of thing isn't taken into consideration by the legal process.

Thanks Yossell- yes, I am getting legal advice. Believe me, I would rather not go there with the house and if we could mediate a good outcome for both of us, that would be preferred - unfortunately he has walked away from mediation and is now being briefed by his solicitor. As I have said throughout this thread, the inherited house will remain as is- I just need him to accept 40% equity instead of 50% to minimize the impact on the children.

@SJMummy50 Do you get on with his parents? Could you ask them to intercede with your husband for you?

For those saying inheritance shouldn’t count - why should earned money be treated differently from inherited money? How long after you’ve inherited something should it be considered yours in the same way a big work bonus would be? Also this isn’t an inheritance- it’s a gift to avoid inheritance. How long do you need to own a gift before it’s considered yours?

this is complicated as the OP’s PIL are still in the house. But they cheated the system to ensure their child got their childhood home - the OP should use their example and do everything she can to make sure her children get to stay in their childhood home and it doesn’t have to be sold.

this couple owns 2 properties between them. The OP is happy for her exH to keep 100% of one house and 35-40% of the other house, then they both keep their own pensions. This might mean in the future both the PIL house and their childhood home are passed to the dcs in the future.

OP - go for it. Your exH has decided to be a dick, he’s bringing this on himself.

Oh wow have to explain everything.

The reason it should not count (and won't mostly even in crazy English law) is:

There is no argument that it was generated during the marriage by the couple. If someone had a work bonus during the marriage one could argue that the stay home partner contributed in some way by letting the other one work. No such argument with inheritance.

Except its not an inheritance, it has ALREADY been gifted to the dh.

As I said upthread, I know a couple who have had similar situations where a house has been put in an adult child’s name to avoid inheritance tax and then that adult child has later divorced, and while the other partner didn’t get the full value, the 2nd property owned by one of the couple was taken into consideration, and the adult child got less than they would have done from the other joint assets than they would if their parents hadn’t gifted their property.

inherited assets and gifted or won assets (like lottery winnings) are still assets - as the other poster said about her exHs shares in a family business. The other partner rarely gets the gifted / inherited asset, and the split is then rarely 50/50, usually the person who was gifted the money/house/business gets more, but they don’t get to put aside significant assets /sums of money and not have them considered as if they don’t own them when deciding the split.