Dealing with mum's will

A question about : Dealing with mum's will

I am dealing with my mum's will as there is no cash to pay the solicitors who were named as executors. They are preparing a deed of renunciation and I have the PA1 form to complete.

The will stipulates that after costs Ј5,000 should be paid to each my niece and nephew (I have no children) and the balance of the estate is split equally between myself and my sister.

There is no cash - the only asset is the property my mum and my sister lived in (she is 55 and was my mum's carer).

The only was to pay my niece and nephew their inheritance is for the property to be sold and therefore my sister to lose her home. I do not intend to claim my share of the estate to enable my sister to keep her home so presume I would just complete a TR1 form after probate is obtained to transfer the property solely into my sister's name but how do I deal with the inheritance due to my niece and nephew?

Best answers:

• Can your sister now work and get a small loan or mortgage to cover the money for nieces and nephews?
  She may find something in a caring role, given her experience in looking after your mum.
• You should get the property valued and settle her funeral costs first.
  What does your sister want to happen? Or your neice and nephew?
  If your sister or you have some savings you could settle the bequest to neice and nephew and any other debts and then register the house in your joint names. This would mean the decision to sell or not is between your sister and you alone.
  Alternatively is it possible you could sell the house and there is enough money for your sister to buy a smaller home from her share?
  Ultimately as the executor if neice and nephew want their money they are entitled to expect you to sell the house and pay the money to them.
  Do neice and nephew need the money? Would they be prepared to wait for a year or so, so that you and your sister can sort out an alternative way of paying them? In any case some delay would be reasonable while you apply for probate.
  One long term effect of you keeping a share of the house but not living there is you may have to pay capital gains tax on your share when it is sold.
• Are they the sisters kids?
  How old are they?
  IF over 18 how flexible are they on waiting.
  If the preference is to try and keep the house then for Ј10k it is not worth selling and buying something cheaper the costs will be a big chunk of Ј10k looking for other ways to raise the funds would be more cost effective.
  Depending on the value and your estate a deed of variation may be a waste of money and a gift will do the job.
• Thanks everyone - yes niece and nephew are my sisters children and are in their 20's and no longer live at home. They don't actually know they have this inheritance and in fact my niece is the reason that there is no cash in my mum's estate as she was continually borrowing money so I feel any inheritance she does receive should have these debts deducted.
  My sister has previously been bankrupt so will be unable to raise funds to pay their inheritance so I guess they will just have to wait until some time in the future.
  If I kept joint ownership of the house with my sister living in the house would it be fair to say I would not be liable for maintenance costs in lieu of not receiving say 'rent' for my sister living in my 'share' of the house? Obviously I presume this would have to be by a written agreement.
  Then I guess if my sister decided at some point in the future to sell the house I could give her my half of the sales proceeds to wards another house - but would there be tax implications of doing this?
• So really the only way to solve this is to sell the house, therefore making my sister lose her home as there will be insufficient funds left for her to buy another house after selling costs, debts and legacies. I'm sure that wouldn't have been my mum's intention when she made her will 17 years ago but if that is what the law dictates.....
• Sound like it may be time to talk to the kids
• If you can find any correspondence of your mother's relating to these loans then your niece still owes the estate the money. If that is more than the amount that is gifted to her, then you have an obligation to pursue her for repayment on behalf of her brother, although in reality that could cause a terrible family fall out so an alternative solution may be needed to be looked at.
  Not many children would be willing to see their own mother made homeless for the sake of Ј5000, so I think it is time to have a gentle word with the both of them explaining the situation and asking them to give up their inheritance, which will in effect be put back until her death.
• DOV is a tax mitigation device and not needed if the kids agree to delay themselves getting paid.
• Could they make an arrangement so your sister pays a certain amount per month towards what they are owed, until they have received the full amount?