Auntie with life interest, charging mum maintanance.

[Baboon]

Hi, if anyone can shed some light on this please help.

My Auntie and mother inherited my grandfathers estate including his house. The Auntie was alreay living there and has been granted life interest to provide a home for her for the remainder of her life.

However she is trying to contract my mother into being half responsible for any major structural work that insurance would not cover. Her arguement is that my mother should think of it as an investment for when the house is passed to her upon the death of my auntie. Although there is the chance that my auntie would outlive my mother and her 50% ownership would be divided between my sister and me, therefore my mother wouldn't benifit at all from the value of the house, and surely she cannot be expected to pay her own money to keep a roof over someone elses head or be resonsible for paying maintanance in the interest of my sister and I as we are both adults and no longer her responsibilty. Also in the will my sister and I are referred to as my Grandfather's grandchildren, not my mother's children, does this hold any significance with regard to my Auntie's arguement that she would be responsible for half the costs because the house will be passed to my sister and me next?

My Auntie has CHOSEN to excercise her life interest, would it have been my mother's choice she would have chosen to sell the house thus incurring no costs.

Can anyone clarify where the law stands on this kind of situation, any help would be much appreciated as the Auntie in question has been a financial burden for countless years, and has been nothing but trouble in a time of grief.

Thankyou.

[Lee Young]

From what you have described it would appear that your auntie has a life interest and then on her death the trust passes to your mother, or if she has already died to you and your sister.

In the absence of anything in the Will to the contrary, it is not the life tenant's responsibility to improve a trust property in which she has a life interest, but rather the trustees'. Consequently I see no real issue with what your auntie is asking- it is absolutely right that your mother would be investing in her future asset. It should really be the trustees brokering the deal, not the life tenant. Presumably there is no cash in the trust that could be spent on the property maintenance? Does the Will say anything about who should be reponsioble for the property?

[Anthony Nixon]

Not sure I agree with Lee on this one.

He is right that it is the trustees' responsibility as to how expenditure on the property is allocated between your aunt, with her present right to the house, and your aunt and your mother, who, if I understand you correctly, inherit the property between them subject to your aunt's right of occupation.

Who are the trustees and, if they are someone other than your aunt and mother, what is their view?

If there is no money in the trust to fund expenditure then it is a question of why money needs to be spent.

Lee is correct in saying that it would not be your aunt's responsibility to fund improvements. But neither is it your or your mother's responsibility to pay for repairs or maintenance simply to keep a roof over your aunt's head.

Does the will give your aunt the right to live only in this house, or can it be sold and the proceeds reinvested in an alternative home or to provide her with an income?

If so, and money needs to be spent on the house to enable your aunt to live there, and she can’t afford it, then the house ought to be sold and a cheaper property bought for her to live in.

If not, and money really does need to be spent, there is a problem, but the solution depends, first, on the exact provisions of your grandfather’s will.

You need good legal and practical advice on the position. You and your mother may need to take advice first and then sit down with your aunt to hammer out a solution.


Anthony Nixon CTA TEP Solicitor
Partner, Thomas Eggar LLP, Southampton and Chichester
anthony.nixon@thomaseggar.com
023 8083 1224

[Baboon]

Hi Anthony,

Thankyou for your reply. There is currently no maintainance work or sturctural problems with the house to stop my Aunt from living in it. However the will does stipulate that should the running costs of house be too much the house could be sold and the proceeds used to buy a smaller and more manageable property and the remainder of the money could either then be split or held in the bank with my Aunt being able to use any interest accrued to create a "wage" for herself to live on, and on my Aunt's death the smaller house would then return as part of the estate.

The main worry for my mother was that because there are only 2.5 years between her and my Aunt that maybe in 20 years time for instance, when the are both well into their pensions, that she could end up being hit with for example and £20,000 bill for a whole new roof on my Aunts home and would maybe be forced to remortgage her and my fathers house to keep a roof over my Aunts head.

Thankyou for your help.

[maths]

Depending upon the precise terms of the will/trust one option may be to collapse the trust (ie trustees sell house and divide proceeds) and for your mother and auntie to take their respective % shares which would need to be actuarily valued. This might avoid possible arguments if the trust has no income with the house as its sole asset.