Inheritance query - can I force a sale?

[Amgoingtoburst]

Wondering if any one can advise? My elderly parents own their home in the UK and a property abroad. I have two siblings and the three of us are set to inherit our parents' estate when they die. The UK home is considerably more valuable than the foreign property and will need to be sold to pay death duties.
The issue is that my family and I are unlikely to use the foreign property and don't want the hassle/expense of it and would therefore want the property sold, but my siblings may want to keep it as they are more likely to use it. When the time comes, do I have to accept a third of the property as my inheritance or can I insist it is either sold or considered as part of their share if they wish to keep it? My worry is that if two of the three sibings want to keep it but aren't prepared to accept the value of it comes off their share, I will be lumbered with either accepting a lower value of inheritance or being lumbered with a liability I am unlikely to get any benefit from. I'd rather know where I stand legally before entering into any discussions with them.

Can it be written in will that they should sell if one wants to ?

Otherwise it sounds a right messy situation

No - the parents have no interest in what happens to their estate when they're gone or whether their children have a disagreement about it - they just want an easy life (and can't blame them at their age). The big mess is unfortunately a possible outcome so keen to understand where I stand before we get to that time when emotions will be running high, preferably without having to pay lots of money to a solicitor to find out!

Do your parents have a will and who are the executors.

Yes, they do and the 3 siblings are the executors.

If the will states that the estate is split equally three ways then the houses will have to be valued and added to any other assets to form the total value. You absolutely do not have to accept either a lower share or a part of the abroad house if you don't want to. If siblings want to keep it then they will basically have to 'buy' you out. Easiest for them would be to increase your cash share from the sale of the uk property. If there isn't enough assets left after taxes etc then the abroad house will either need to be sold or siblings will have to raise funds another way to pay your share.

can I insist it is either sold or considered as part of their share if they wish to keep it?

Short answer - yes

I would agree with Lizzt2007. Unless the will says something like you are each to inherit one third of each individual property then you each inherit one third of the value of the entire estate rather than particular properties. It is then down to the executors to decide how to achieve that.

You mentioned "death duties". Can I assume that your parents have a will leaving everything to each other and then, when the surviving spouse dies, everything is left to the children?

In that situation, your parents can leave you and your siblings up to £1 million without paying any inheritance tax. Then inheritance tax is only payable on the value of the estate above £1 million.

Here is an example of how it would work.

Let's say the UK house is worth £1 million and the overseas house is worth £400k. Also, to keep things simple there are no other assets (bank accounts, investments etc) to consider.

So the total value of the estate is £1.4 million. In the situation of two parents leaving everything to their children or grandchildren including the family home then the first £1 million is exempt and £160k inheritance tax is payable on the remaining £400k (tax rate is 40%).

Unless your late parents had £160k lying around in cash/investments then you would need to sell one of the properties to pay it (I guess that it would be the UK home?)

So the net value of the estate after paying tax is £1.24 million. Each sibling then inherits £413k.

If your two siblings wish to keep the overseas property worth £400k then they would likely each take an equal share of it (so that is £200k each) and then take the remainder of their inheritance (£213k) in cash from the sale of the UK property.

Meanwhile, since you have no interest in the overseas property you take the full £413k in cash.

Hope this makes sense.