General Chat

I would have thought the daughter could have got help with housing etc while she legally pursued the father for what she had contributed to the family home and his responsibilities towards his son, or they could have helped supplement her benefits or wages to allow her a reasonable standard of living during that time. They have lost out on the tax paid and might end up in difficulty themselves as time goes on. Could it be that the sibling might force the sale of the property when the parents are no longer here, so that she gets her share?

Hope it all works for the family.

Lizx

If they are British and in their 70s, then they probably hadn't drawn on the pension pots. New legislation has been brought in this year saying that you can cash in a pension fund if you haven't bought an annuity. The first 25% is tax free, the rest is taxed.

On that basis, they must have other income such as an occupational pension, or savings they are spending. It sounds as if they've thought it through. One just hopes they won't have to sell while the daughter is still living there to cover their Care.

They've made a very brave decision - not one we'd like to face!

at their age ................ I would not have cashed in all our pensions and left ourselves so unprotected.

Our daughter's marriage was in some trouble last year, and we did debate about how to help her and the grandson ................. we could have put down the mortgage on a place for them without damaging the future for ourselves, leaving her to find the payments

And by future, I mean the fact that one or both of us is very possibly going to need care, which we have to pay for here .... either because of physical or dementia related disabilities.

We HAVE to be able to fund what might be £3000 a month for good and secure care for who knows how long.

If we can't fund that, she would have to do that.



Have your friends considered what they do if they need this in the next, say, 5 years.

Well I suppose if it is in their names they can still sell it, probably at a good profit given that it's near London, if push comes to shove financially?

The flat is in their name and will be left to the 2 girls. They are not charging rent and they have helped the other daughter out in the past, BUT not to the tune that they no longer have pensions :-S

I can understand them doing what they can to help their daughter and grandson cope, but I hope they kept ownership of the flat, but agreed she could use it. In which case maybe they think investing in property may be as good as a pension pot anyway.

If it's been given to her I wonder how their other daughter feels about it? Detective is spot on about being fair and what if, in time, the other daughter found herself in a situation where she needed a similar legup and they couldn't afford to do it for her? If they have given her the flat the very least they should do is adjust their wills to reflect what she has already had.

London prices are outrageous, especially as she'd need a 2 bed.

In the circumstances, they might need to alter their wills so the 2nd child gets £X more than the daughter. Considering their ages, one hopes they can survive another 7 years or else the daughter/their Estate might get hit with extra IHT

Trust me they looked at moving her to Spain, moving her in with them. Everything to take her away from the hassle but, Her job is with Virgin so they bought the flat in the outskirts of London.

I have got my friends ages wrong they are in their 70´s.

Extremely generous, although I'd be worried about our own retirement income when the time came. They probably thought long and hard as well as taking financial advise before making that decision.

It's probably easier if they have just the one child. More than one and each 'ought' to be treated the same.

There is 2 daughters and they are only just in their 60´s

I suppose the alternative might have been to have daughter and child live with them? But maybe they felt it was a better option all round to buy somewhere, perhaps once settled she will be able to pay something back? I might have kept it in my name so the asset remained mine.

I think it was probably instinctive if they were worried about them. However, Have they considered what they themselves are going to live on. I wonder if there was any other way they could have handled it. Without knowing the full details, i.e.is it the partner's son, surely, even if they are not married he should not have been able to make his own son homeless. I wonder if they got legal advice? As I said Uzzi, it is difficult without knowing the full story.

Probably reasonable.

Would it have been hers eventually anyway?

Friends of mine have cashed in all their pensions to buy their child a flat after her partner of 14 yrs has kicked her and their 11 yr old son out with nothing.

.?? Protect in what way? :-S

Should a parent sell up everything to protect a child ?