Will, tax implications and living with partner

[RowntreesCabana]

Hi

Sadly, my brother in law has been given 3 months to live. He isn't married but has been living with his girlfriend for more than 5 years.

Just a quick question, if he gives his house to his partner, will she have to pay tax on it due to not being married. The house is worth approx £200k, but someone mentioned that laws had changed to cover common law marriage?

Thanks

[anonymous-user]

no such thing as common law marriage.

Whether she gets anything is down to whether she has contributed, but basically she won't inherit anything

is it wrong to suggest they get married?

[RowntreesCabana]

keirik said:

no such thing as common law marriage.

Whether she gets anything is down to whether she has contributed, but basically she won't inherit anything

is it wrong to suggest they get married?

Marriage was planned, but things are very stressed at the moment.

Thanks for the info.

[Eric Mc]

Married couples (and those in a Civil Partnership) are automatically exempted from any IHT when it comes to inter-spousal transfers.

Those who have not entered into either of the above legal arrangements, receive no such tax reliefs. It doesn't matter if the relationship has existed for 5 weeks or 5 decades.

If she receives a substantial part of his estate on death, depending on the value of the share of the estate she receives, there could be an Inheritance Tax liability arising.

"Death bed" marriages are not that unusual and are usually entered into to make sure no inadvertent large Inheritance Tax liability is suddenly payable.

The BBC media correspondent Steve Hewlett and his long term partner did just this a few days before he died.

[Jockman]

keirik said:

is it wrong to suggest they get married?

Nope.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

If the house is his only assets, plus maybe a few grand in savings, it's well below the IHT threshold so there will be not tax payable anyway.

[clockworks]

Getting married would surely make the whole thing a lot simpler, especially when dealing with banks, etc., if he goes into a hospice and after he dies?

[Jockman]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

If the house is his only assets, plus maybe a few grand in savings, it's well below the IHT threshold so there will be not tax payable anyway.

More a case of who gets the house. The girlfriend or OP's wife. Depends what b-i-l wishes are.

[anonymous-user]

Jockman said:

keirik said:

is it wrong to suggest they get married?

Nope.

Check out Ken Dodd. Married his long term partner two days before his death earlier this year,
https://metro.co.uk/2018/03/13/ken-dodd-gets-last-...

[Jockman]

rockin said:

Jockman said:

keirik said:

is it wrong to suggest they get married?

Nope.

Check out Ken Dodd. Married his long term partner two days before his death earlier this year,
https://metro.co.uk/2018/03/13/ken-dodd-gets-last-...

Thought he didn't understand the taxation system

[anonymous-user]

Jockman said:

Thought he didn't understand the taxation system

[kowalski655]

Jockman said:

Thought he didn't understand the taxation system

Its an extreme way to get back at the taxman though

OP's b-i-l will need to make sure his will reflects the situation,or gf gers jack

[RowntreesCabana]

Thanks for the info so far. Just to explain something, this involves a brain tumour and the medication he's on for something related to that has severe mental side effects, and with the stress of everything else, things are getting heated unfortunately. Sad times.

There seems to be a little contradiction in info though, will the value of the house make a difference to paying tax or not, even though they're not married?

[anonymous-user]

RowntreesCabana said:

There seems to be a little contradiction in info though, will the value of the house make a difference to paying tax or not, even though they're not married?

Yes If total estate is less than the inheritance tax threshold the there is no tax.

This is currently 325k

Does he have a will?

edit to add: if there is a mortgage this can be deducted from the value of the house when calculating the value of the estate.

[Eric Mc]

Thee are two issues when a person dies -

Inheritance Tax
Who gets the estate of the deceased

I've explained the basic Inheritance Tax issue above.

If a couple is married or has a Civil Partnership in place, there are certain automatic rights which accrue to the surviving spouse/civil partner. These rights do not apply if the couple were merely "living together".

Having a will can go a long way to ensuring that surviving partner gets what the deceased intended - but it needs to be all very carefully planned out.

[98elise]

Jockman said:

keirik said:

is it wrong to suggest they get married?

Nope.

It would seem to be the sensible thing to do if the BIL wants his Girlfriend to be treated as his wife for inheritance purposes.

It would also be a nice thing to do if that was the intent anyway.

[rfisher]

Sorry to read about your brother-in-law.

Presumably he is divorced from your sister?

Or his girlfriend is your sister, but they are not married?

Do they have any children together?

[anonymous-user]

rfisher said:

Sorry to read about your brother-in-law.

Presumably he is divorced from your sister?

Or his girlfriend is your sister, but they are not married?

Do they have any children together?

Or his wife's brother.

[rfisher]

Or his husband's brother.

This is getting complicated.

Anyway - are there any children to consider here?

[Countdown]

RowntreesCabana said:

Hi

Sadly, my brother in law has been given 3 months to live. He isn't married but has been living with his girlfriend for more than 5 years.

Just a quick question, if he gives his house to his partner, will she have to pay tax on it due to not being married. The house is worth approx £200k, but someone mentioned that laws had changed to cover common law marriage?

Thanks

Assuming it’s in his will then, as others have pointed out, no tax to pay.

Has he made a will? Because if he hasn’t then his assets will go to his family rather than his GF.....