My parents are in their late-60s and live in a house that my dad has completely built inside to my brother’s design. As a result, we would like to keep the house in the family, and I am wondering how to best go about securing it.

Would it be advisable to get my parents to ‘sell’ the house to my brother and me now while they live in it, so that should the time ever come that they have to go onto care, it can’t be sold to pay for it? If so, what are the pitfalls of such a move?

We’re not interested in doing anything dishonest; we’re just exploring realistic and smart options.

You want a financial advisor more than an accountant, plus a solicitor as well.

Yup, financial advisor and solicitor, as there Inheritance Tax aspects to it all as well.

solicitor + advisor. In that order. Beware if the IFA sells you a ‘product’. Sum up what you’d like to happen, the pitfalls you foresee (and the ones you don’t). A good solicitor will identify those and allow you, and the parents, control over the outcome.

e.g. what if it’s sold to your brother but you fall out with him / he dies and the children/widow sell it? Should be able to get an expression of security over the house if that’s a concern.

where abouts are you? ask for local recommendations?

as above.

an elderly relative did somethign similar.

the person they’d ‘left it to’ died before they did and the house could of had to be sold as a part of the estate of the dead person making the old person homeless. There were a few months of intense stress all round.

I would not go near a financial advisor for this. If you just want to secure the house for the future then solicitor. If you want to minimise the tax implications of securing the house then definitely a good accountant (the word tax is a give away).

I thought the councils were onto this wheeze of flogging your house for a pound to the son or daughter?

But yes, if your brother got, say, divorced, his other half could rightly demand he sold it for some of the settlement etc. etc.

It has to be shown to be sold for a reasonable amount otherwise it’s a wheeze as you say. And if you sell it, but remain there rent free or low rent, it’s not even a sale as such. It’s a gift with reservation and a whole lot of pain..

Trusted solicitor the whole way IMO.

My dad made an arrangement where he and my mum ceased to be ‘Joint Tenants’ and became ‘Tenants in Common’, basically meaning that they each own a half share of the house rather than both own all of it.

It meant that when my dad died this summer the house and estate doesn’t pass automatically to my mum. She continues to own her half of everything and me and my brother have now inherited the other half which is held by us in trust for us to manage in her interest.

The reason he did that was so that whichever of the two of them survived longest couldn’t have their home sold to pay for care (might they need it) as the home isn’t wholly their asset to sell.

Its not an inherritance tax issue for us as the estate is way below the threshold, its only about the care and independence of the remaining spouse when they get older.

What safety net it would provide if both parties required care I don’t know

I’ve just about finished doing the probate this week (save a 5 minute oath swearing thing) its only a tiny bit more bother than if they’d remained Joint Tenants. Straight forward enough not to require further legal services to execute it beyond the will itself being drafted 10 years ago