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Confused about leaving a house in your will

18 replies

Cassoppy · 21/05/2025 10:03

Hi. As the title suggests I am confused about leaving a house in your will.

We are updating our wills now we have young children able and although we hope they won't be needed for a very long time we want to do the best things for them. Otherwise our circumstances are straightforward so we plan to draft it ourselves and then get a solicitor review at the end but there is just one bit I can't work out.

Currently the guidance says that if you leave your home to your children then the inheritance tax allowance can increase. However I cannot see anywhere whether the house must be separately detailed or whether, if the house is 'just' considered as part of the whole estate, generic distribution of the estate is sufficient. I also cannot find any information for, if the latter is true, whether any gifts from the estate to e.g. siblings and charities, would remove the opportunity for the allowance to be increased.

Is there anyone who has gone through this who might be able to advise? Thank you!

OP posts:
Badbadbunny · 21/05/2025 10:19

Just chat it over with the solicitor you'll be using to draft the will. This is bread and butter daily work to them so tell them want you want and ask them about IHT and they'll draft the will accordingly. There are "copy and paste" clauses they use with the right "legalise" to deal with homes both for passing on to the next generation and dealing with IHT if relevant and looking after minor children.

But usually, if there is a major IHT change, like any other change in circumstances, the normal advice is to change your will or add a codicil. You can't prepare for every potential change in IHT or life events.

I think most homeowners would have changed their wills when the (new) residential nil rate band came into force as before then their wills would usually specify that their estate up to the IHT threshold would go to x and the remainder would go to y - or they'd set up some kind of discretionary trust, but with the new residential nil rate band, that clause became redundant for most homeowners with "average" value homes and estates, and in some cases, continuing having a will with that clause would actually mean more IHT payable than if the clause was removed. So solicitors were very busy for a couple of years rewriting wills and removing the clause!

When I look at probate records, wills, etc., (which is something I do quite a lot of), it's very telling that the vast majority of people's wills are within, say, 5-10 years ahead of them dying. Very, very few are "old" wills, i.e. 10+ years ahead. The general advice is to review every five years, and make changes if appropriate. You really can't make it once and forget about it as so much changes. Not only in terms of IHT, but also that if you have kids, your will will be very different whilst they're minors and will almost certainly need changing once they're adults. Likewise any bequests you make to people, your close family, partners, etc - if they die, then that's another trigger point for reviewing and replacing your will (or at least a codicil). Likewise when you get grandchildren, or your parents die, etc - you need to keep aware of who you've left money to, who you've nominated to look after your minor children, who's the next of kin if no will, who is the "residual" beneficiary if people you've left bequests to have died - so many factors and scenarios. Likewise appointing executors - sometimes you change your mind, sometimes your appointed executors die or become too old to do the job, and again, whilst you may want someone external be executor whilst your children are minors, once they become adults, you'd probably want to change the will to appoint them as executors instead. (They can still engage a professional to help but they'd be in control!).

Hence the general advice to review and replace every five years.

I think we've changed ours maybe 5-6 times over the life of our son who is now 23 and our current will is completely different to the ones we made when he was born! Some changes were due to IHT changes, some changes as he went through different ages and stages of life, and some changes arose due to family deaths or illness (people we'd originally nominated to look after our son if we both died, including guardianship but also financial provisions, i.e. a trust to cover living and education costs until he became an adult).

An old/out of date will is often worse than no will at all! And having no will is pretty bad! Don't "draft" it yourself - create a page of your wishes with various "what if" scenarios, and let the solicitor draft it.

InterruptingRabbit · 21/05/2025 10:23

Best to check but my understanding is if the house goes to children, you get the additional allowance for it, it doesn’t need to be separately specified and it’s not affected by other gifts. It’s just a case of is the main residence going to direct descendants or not.

Badbadbunny · 21/05/2025 10:24

InterruptingRabbit · 21/05/2025 10:23

Best to check but my understanding is if the house goes to children, you get the additional allowance for it, it doesn’t need to be separately specified and it’s not affected by other gifts. It’s just a case of is the main residence going to direct descendants or not.

My understanding too!

BangersAndGnash · 21/05/2025 13:36

Are you married?

You each get an extra £175k added to the IHT threshold if you leave your main residence to your direct descendants. So between you you can leave £1m to your Dc without incurring IHT. If married.

Your house is just part of your estate, but it is as well to mention it specifically.

There are other things to consider: do you own your house as Tenants in Common or Joint Tenants? If the latter the house automatically belongs to the surviving partner - but can be left to the Dc with the same IHT threshold as before - if married.

If you own as Tenants In Common you can each leave your share of the house to the Dc rather than to your DH. You may want to consider this if you are still young. Personally I would leave my share of a house to my Dc with life interest for their father until the youngest is 18 or 21. Too many men marry a younger second wife and leave everything to her, and the Dc never get a share of their Mum's estate.

If you are not married you can each leave your assets to your dc with the benefit of your own IHT-free amount (£325 + £175) but if you leave it to an unmarried Dp they cannot accumulate your share of the tax free amount when they leave it all to the kids.

There is no IHT between married couples.

Another2Cats · 21/05/2025 15:13

"Otherwise our circumstances are straightforward so we plan to draft it ourselves and then get a solicitor review at the end..."

Frankly, I would strongly advise against doing this unless the changes are very minor indeed.

Previous posters above have explained some of the things that you need to take into account.

The most important question to start with is "Are you married?". The advice given by your solicitor may well be different depending on your answer to that question.

"...if the house is 'just' considered as part of the whole estate, generic distribution of the estate is sufficient."

The house is part of the estate for IHT purposes (which is all that HMRC are interested in) so it doesn't matter whether any will specifically mentions a house. IHT is just concerned with the total value of the entire estate.

"...whether any gifts from the estate to e.g. siblings and charities, would remove the opportunity for the allowance to be increased."

That makes no difference at all. As long as there is a primary residence that is passed on to a direct descendant (ie child or grandchild) after death then there is up to £175k per person nil rate band to set against the value of the home.

If you are married and die first then you can pass the house to your husband and he will also get your £175k allowance. This means that when he dies, if the house is left to a direct descendant, then there will be up to £325k allowance to set against the value of the home.

This is entirely separate to any gifts that you give away during your lifetime and only applies to the value of your home after you (or both of you) pass away.

Well, actually, it's not just the value of the home at the time of death. If you have downsized to a smaller property then there are situations where you can still use the allowance even if your current property doesn't allow for you to use all of it.

Xenia · 21/05/2025 16:15

It will cost you vastly more to do it yourself and then have a solicitor correct it. Either don't use a solicitor at all or just use one in the normal way for a will.
Your post does not say if you are married - that makes quite a difference.

On the specific question you raise you don't mention what assets you have in your ill even if that includes a house. The IHT rule you mention applies without mentioning the house.

Harassedevictee · 21/05/2025 18:31

@Cassoppy Firstly the regulations can change, so you do need to keep updated e.g, check each year’s budget.

Secondly get a solicitor to draft your will. I know it’s ££ but better than getting it wrong.

WRT the house and residential nil rate band, as pp have said a solicitor is best placed to advise. My understanding is you don’t have to leave the house I.e. named property, what you have to do is leave some of your estate to your DC or GC. There is a provision that, if like my parent, you go in a care home and sell your property you can potentially claim the RNRB.

Cassoppy · 21/05/2025 23:31

Thanks everyone, that is all really helpful.

To answer a couple of questions, I am married and we will write mirror wills. We would be making minor changes to one of the 'straightforward' wills that was offered as an additional benefit from an organisation. We also have sight of a recent solicitor drafted will for my parents.

We don't intend to be 'one will and done' but we are looking to keep it as straightforward as possible with the thought of protecting our children if something unexpected happened to the both of us. We are likely to become tenants in common once the children are older but are happy as joint tenants from now and at the moment we are a long way from the IHT threshold but we can always hope for a lottery win!

@Xenia, what makes you say that it would cost more for us to do it ourselves than using a solicitor? Or have I misunderstood and you are saying that having a solicitor review our will may cost more than them creating another from scratch?

@Badbadbunny in what way can an 'old will' be more problematic than no will? Or is this just when it might referring to people no longer willing or able to fulfil roles/receive money?

And @Harassedevictee, this perhaps shows my naivety but what 'wrong' (of any significant impact) is likely to occur if the will is written with clear logic and in plain English?

We were very underwhelmed when we approached a wills solicitor to start from scratch a few years ago but we don't want to make a huge issue for ourselves or our family and executors either.

OP posts:
Harassedevictee · 21/05/2025 23:55

A good example of how a solicitor can help is your question about leaving your house in a will. What else don’t you know?

You had to come on the internet to ask the question - logic and plain English may create a well written document but is that enough to make it a will that doesn’t inadvertently create an issue for your executors?

Cassoppy · 22/05/2025 07:34

Harassedevictee · 21/05/2025 23:55

A good example of how a solicitor can help is your question about leaving your house in a will. What else don’t you know?

You had to come on the internet to ask the question - logic and plain English may create a well written document but is that enough to make it a will that doesn’t inadvertently create an issue for your executors?

But that was my question! What could tangible examples of the significant impact/issues be? 🙂 I recognise that I may have not used the terminology to fully utilise the inheritance tax allowance but I don't see that would have created an 'issue' beyond a potentially lost opportunity if our finances changed? If our finances changed that much and that quickly then we would definitely be updating our will with solicitor assistance.

I'm happy to be told it's reckless if it truly is and would adjust our priorities accordingly but I'm running the traditional juggle between other (sadly more immediate) financial demands or continuing with our now older will.

OP posts:
Blondeshavemorefun · 22/05/2025 07:43

I’m tweaking my will this am with my ifa - it doesn’t cost me anything as I get free will adjustments

things change sadly in life so always make sure will is updated

Harassedevictee · 22/05/2025 09:10

@Cassoppy your will is contested, your will is invalid so the laws of intestacy apply, you know what you wanted but that isn’t what legally your will means.

You asked for advice my advice is use a solicitor. You are perfectly free not to take my advice.

Cassoppy · 22/05/2025 09:28

Harassedevictee · 22/05/2025 09:10

@Cassoppy your will is contested, your will is invalid so the laws of intestacy apply, you know what you wanted but that isn’t what legally your will means.

You asked for advice my advice is use a solicitor. You are perfectly free not to take my advice.

Thank you, I appreciate it. If these are likely outcomes of a non-solicitor formed (albeit reviewed) will then it is apparent that we have underestimated the requirements and we are certainly reflecting on all the advice on this thread.

Thanks again to everyone. :)

OP posts:
Another2Cats · 22/05/2025 10:19

Cassoppy · 22/05/2025 09:28

Thank you, I appreciate it. If these are likely outcomes of a non-solicitor formed (albeit reviewed) will then it is apparent that we have underestimated the requirements and we are certainly reflecting on all the advice on this thread.

Thanks again to everyone. :)

I would disagree with some of the points made by some other posters here.

Where you say:

"We would be making minor changes to one of the 'straightforward' wills that was offered as an additional benefit from an organisation. We also have sight of a recent solicitor drafted will for my parents."

If you were to do that and then ask a solicitor with experience in this area to review it then I cannot see any real problem. (Although, different people may have different ideas as to what constitutes "minor" but any problems should be picked up by the solicitor).

I assume that you're leaving everything to each other (provided the other person survives you by however many days) or if they don't survive you then to your children. And uncle Fred and aunt Mable are named as the children's guardians and trustees?

You may also be leaving specific gifts to individual people (eg siblings)?

From what you have said about your current situation, I don't see where the big problem is.

A pp mentioned that the will may be contested. Well, it might be in some circumstances but not really in this situation. Who would be able to contest it? The only people would be your children.

And the part about the will being invalid and then being intestate is also incorrect.

A will will be invalid if it isn't signed properly with witnesses or if you do not have mental capacity to understand it etc. But that doesn't mean that you die intestate.

For example, if you did not sign the new will then your old will is still valid and that is the one that will be used.

There is one situation where you could die intestate. If you were to get divorced and you (or your DH) remarried then the will would be invalid and you would die intestate if you did not make a new will after your remarried.

Xenia · 22/05/2025 14:21

," what makes you say that it would cost more for us to do it ourselves than using a solicitor? Or have I misunderstood and you are saying that having a solicitor review our will may cost more than them creating another from scratch?"

It is a bit like my next task today - a client has written a long thing using Chat GPT for me to go through and amend. It would have cost him less had he asked me to write it - it is so wrong it will take longer to put it right than had I drafted it in the first place. That was the only point I was making.

However if someone has a good will and just wants to amend it themselves to say their neighbour as well as their friend inherit XYZ that probably could be done alone fairly safely. (I don't do wills).

On the IHT additional band house exemption thing for houses under £2m (not over) if you leave your house to your child when you are both dead then for a married couple 1m can be left IHT free and 500k for a single person. You do not need to nor should you write anything about a house in the will.

You probably want to make sure is says who will be guardians of the child if you both die. If you own a property abroad you are likely to need a separate will in that country. I fyou are leaving someone out of your will who would normally be in that may need to be covered and lots of people also write a Letter of Wishes (not legally binding) with the will about other matters they do not want to put in the will itself.

Make sure any pension and life insurance policies are already written in trust for your spouse - the insurance companies etc have a standard form you can use for that.
Also consider if you want your house in joint names as joint "tenants" or tenants in common. My father severed the joint tenancy as he thought he would died first and was concerned our mother might not leave us the house even though they lived together (of course she would have done and she died first anyway). Even so that change brought him some comfort.

I agree contesting of the will is unlikely but do execute it correctly signed by 2 people physically in the room with you watching you sign who must not anyone who will inherit. Consider who you want to be executors - my sons have their siblings as we did not want to have to pay solicitors (4 of my adult children are solicitors anyway) but lots of people would prefer a solicitor as an executor. Make sure the family know where the original will is kept. My father always had his lawyer send us photocopies so there were no surprises after death which is a good idea.

Cassoppy · 22/05/2025 16:22

@Another2Cats, your assumptions are very good and your thoughts are reassuring given what we'd previously been led to believe.

@Xenia, what you have said about the cost of rework makes a lot of sense. Thank you for your very detailed and helpful reply.

OP posts:
BeNiceWhenItsFinished · 22/05/2025 16:29

My advice would be to talk to a solicitor.

NeedToKnow101 · 22/05/2025 20:09

There’s solicitors, then there’s ’solicitors.’ My DP’s mum’s solicitor didn’t do any mental capacity checks or keep any detailed notes when she changed her will basically on her deathbed, lessening DP’s share in a fairly significant way, leaving a large chunk of her estate to an adult nephew (meaning more IHT to pay as part of house went to someone who was not a direct descendant). She could barely speak at this point and was very ill and vague but the solicitor didn’t think to do any checks, or ask why it was the nephew bringing her to see him. She changed her mind a few days later and changed her will again, but died before it was signed. The solicitors were also executors and their accountant presented the estate accounts with the shares divided wrongly, not according to Will’s stipulations, in a way that if my DP had signed it off he would have lost tens of thousands of ££. So choose carefully!

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