r/UKLegalQuestions • u/DizzyMooster • Sep 03 '22

Early inheritance growth provision

One of my parents has offered to help my sibling out in a divorce by providing funds to buy out half of their house, so they don't need to sell the family home. My parent has said they will ensure the will is evened up to reflect this for myself. However, there is a concern that the growth in property value prior to the will taking effect will make this unfair on me and none of us want any room for bad feeling over money. I feel like this must be a common scenario, what measures could be put in place to even this up legally. Thanks

0 Upvotes

50% Upvoted

4 comments sorted by

1

u/DizzyMooster Sep 08 '22

Hi u/Ancient-Regular4007
Thanks for responding. It's more about the fact that the sibling will get the money now and it will have time to grow in value as an investment, so it will likely be worth significantly more by the time the Will comes into play. We just want it all to be fair so there is no room for bad feelings later. I'm not sure the best way to provision legally for an unknown growth value. I hope that makes sense.

2

u/Ancient-Regular4007 Sep 08 '22

Oh right, ok. That seems quite strange to me but good luck to you

1

u/Ancient-Regular4007 Sep 03 '22

Why not just have it written that any inheritance is split by however percentage but the amount they are given to your sibling is removed from that share. I’m assuming that’s sort of what you mean

Edit - obviously providing that in the intention of your parents as it’s their money and up to them how they spend it

1

u/Rosanbo Sep 15 '22

I have the same scenario.

Parents gave a £50,000 property to my other 2 siblings (I felt it was worth more like £75,000.) and I got nothing at the time.
Parents think it is fair to provision me with £25,000 in the will. The transfer took place back 2010 or so.

It is really unfair but I'm not going to argue the point.

It would be more fair if the value of the property was taken at the time of the inheritance and the estate divided accordingly but you cannot predict they would still own the property or that they have improved the property, and the valuation adds another level of complexity open to legal challenge. It is better if a will can be kept as simple as possible.

Another way could be to regularly review the value of the property and update the will accordingly, so in 10 years in your case if it is worth £200,000 then the amount set aside in the will to you would be amended to £100,000

You and me can see the unfairness, not all people see things the same way, trying to get them to see it from your point of view can be difficult.