Fair Inheritance

[Toffeelover]

My father owned a house worth £500k approx that passed to my step mother on his death.
She’s in a care home, the house is rented to cover her care.
I have 4 siblings, so, assume £100k each when DSM passes.
The dilema is, my niece has asked me if I’d be happy with her and bf living there when DSM passes & eventually buying it.
She is the only other grandchild,( I have 3 DS’s.)
Immediately I said “yes in principle as I’d love it to stay in the family but I have no real idea of the will/finances etc.”
But I’ve since found out:
I sibling said “I want you to buy me out”
2 siblings said “you take it, I don’t need anything” (they are both on benefits and a large sum would compromise that)
1 sibling said “actually I’d like to live there” (but lives on a minimum wage so I don’t know how she’d manage to finance it.
And the executor said “all children/ grandchildren need to be considered” because the reality is the house is very small on a very large plot of land and could be a great investment potential, so he’s considering the needs of my children. However, I will leave my children ££ of their own.

If you look at it on a purely “needs based” approach, my sister should have first dibs, as she is 50, still renting and on a minimum wage, but my niece will have more chance of raising money to buy us out.

Should I just stay out of it & let them figure it out?

I'd wait until the poor woman has died and let the executor honour her will once any carehome fees, debts and tax have been paid. Her house will become part of her estate.

Do you know what your father’s will said and what your step mother’s will says? Doesn’t it depend on what those say - it’s not up to you?

If it has great investment potential then it doesn’t seem fair to let one family member live there when it could raise a lot more if sold. Unless they buy it at a price reflecting its development potential (ie they pay the full market rate) and those proceeds are distributed around the siblings.

What does the will say? Does it say the estate is to be left to the children?

If so, the probate will have to be carried out, and the house is then owned equally between all five siblings.

Sinling 1 - I think it’s fair that she expects niece to buy her share
Sinlibgs 2/3 - are you legally allowed to refuse an inheritance? If they immediately donate it to niece, is that seen as depravation of assets?
sibling 4 - same situation as niece, apart from she would already own 1/5 of house. Therefore shed’d have to buy out sibling 1, and siblings 2/3 donate their shares

Your mum isn't dead yet.
The house that we were to inherit has gone in care home fees.

Tell them all to stop jumping the gun.

The fair, and right thing to do is to wait until the SM has passed and then you get to see her will. The will should then be followed to the letter.

Make a deed of variation where the two beneficiaries who don't want it split theirs evenly between everyone else. Otherwise they are gifting their shares to niece and she gets 3/5th of the estate which is crazy.

Yes worth checking about legality of siblings passing on inheritance.

Siblings 2& 3 will come under deprivation of assets and yes dwp do check wills to make sure stuff like this doesn't happen. If the niece can buy the property at full market value then she can buy it if not it will have to be sold on the open market. The executor has to get the best price possible

Edited for mistype

Since your niece is unlikely to be able to afford to buy such an expensive house, not to mention that step mum isn't even dead,this seems a daft conversation. Also pretty bad that two beneficiaries would stay on benefits if they could.

Are they half siblings or step siblings ? Quite possible dsm will leave it to her own children. Wouldn’t be the first time.

It's obvious that it will have to be sold as no one can seem to agree on it and I doubt your niece will be looking to pay market value for it. But it's a bit odd even having this conversation when everything is under 'assumption' ie 100k each between 5 siblings without knowing what the will actually states to happen next.

She never had her own children

I'm pretty surprised that the 2 siblings on benefits are saying they don't need the money or am I missing something obvious here?
Surely the money would help them get off benefits, 100k is a considerable amount of money

Wow, really surprised that rent on a small house could cover the care of someone in a care home. My mother's care home fees were £1800 weekly. That's care home, not nursing home.

Firstly I would wait until your step mom dies and see what her will says , unless your DDad left it in trust in his will and gave his wife a lifetime interest it's her will that matters.
If the house was passed to her it might need to be sold in the future to cover her care home fees must be very high rent to cover care home fees .

As for you siblings turning down there Share to keep benefits that's totally wrong and one reason the benefits system needs a big overhaul.

It’s very poor taste that you are all discussing this right now

The poor lady is still alive and you have no idea what her will says

I hope she has left it all to charity

But she could leave it to the local cats home if she wanted.
Wait till the poor woman dies and see what the will says.

•Does your step mum have other relatives?
•are you 100% sure her will says the property will be left to her deceased husband's children?

You aren't her next of kin. Unless her will categorically states you and your siblings inherit everything equally, it might go to your step mum's nearest relative(s).

I think you all need to find out if she has a will first. Poor woman, having family members planning and waiting for inheritance, you might find out you are not beneficiaries which resolve the dilemma.

That's what I was thinking. My mum's care was over £6000 a month

Yep!

Well firstly you would need to find out if there is a will.

But it's all such a mess. If there is a will just follow the will.

Also I am pretty sure if there is a will and the relative on benefits refuses their portion, it could still end with their benefits being stopping. They have refused an opptunity to be self sufficient.

The obvious thing is that they are obviously quite happy claiming benefits. 🙄

You can ‘disclaim’ an inheritance, and then the money gets put back in the pot, so to speak, and the money distributed to the rest of the people who will be inheriting from the estate.

So the niece can’t be given the money. I guess if she does, then technically, the money has passed through the hands of siblings 2/3 so they have actually received the money, and then given it to her. So briefly they’ve been over the thresholds.
(Nb , not a lawyer, was reading up about it as a result of this thread. Hope I’ve understood it correctly).

Rent probably won't cover care home costs so the house may well have to be sold before she dies. Wait til she dies - most likely it'll have to be sold and the money split.

This isn't correct, you can do a deed of variation so that effectively your inheritance never goes to you it goes straight from the estate to the person you nominate in the deed.

www.irwinmitchell.com/personal/probate/probate-guide/changing-will-after-death#:~:text=A%20deed%20of%20variation%2C%20sometimes,also%20help%20minimise%20inheritance%20tax.