Wills and confusion.

[Dawndonna]

Step mum died and has apparently left me something along with her children. Solicitor wants to know about my father's will. He died sixteen years ago and I have no idea in what way it would be relevant. In fact, as far as I know, there wasn't one. Does anyone know why the solicitor is asking?
Any help appreciated.
Thanks.

It could be because the inheritance tax rules changed about 3 or 4 years ago. Previously when say the husband died and left everything to the wife then his inheritance tax band was lost and then when the wife died anything over her band was taxed. Some people got round this by sorting out complex trusts which effectively left the tax free band amount to the children and only the balance to the wife, there were various permutations of this as tax law changed to close off certain planning routes.

But then the law changed and it became possible to transfer the unused inheritance tax theshold from the first spouse to the second spouse see here. This includes even deaths that happened before the law changed though gets more complicated if death was pre 1975.

So my guess is something to do with that and to work out how much inheritance tax is due if any.

If there was no will left by your dad then everything probably passed by default to the wife.

If there was a will it might be registered - see here to find out how to get a copy.

Thank you Sam.