For information about discounted gifts schemes and their treatment for inheritance tax (IHT) purposes, see: • HMRC Manuals: IHTM20421—Discounted Gift Schemes: introduction onwards • Commentary: ◦ Mitigating exposure to inheritance tax: Tolley's Estate Planning [9.31]–[9.37] ◦ Discounted gift plans: A Modern Approach to Lifetime Tax Planning [35.10] ◦ The timing of the IHT valuation: Foster's Inheritance Tax [H2.06] • Journal: Discounted gift trust: Taxation, 2 November 2017, 23 In particular, many discounted gift schemes set up since Finance Act 2006 changes came into effect are immediately chargeable transfers for IHT purposes. How a discounted gift trust is treated for IHT purposes is likely to depend on the type of trust set up. See further, Discretionary trust: Tolley's Estate Planning [9.35]: 'A gift into a discounted gift scheme that is subject to a discretionary trust will be treated for inheritance purposes as a chargeable lifetime transfer, which,

Guardians of children The guardian of a child has the legal authority to make decisions on the child’s behalf and represent the child’s personal and financial interests. Section 105 of the Children Act 1989 (CA 1989) defines ‘guardian of a child’ to mean a guardian (other than the guardian of the estate of a child) appointed in accordance with provisions of CA 1989, s 5. There are three ways in which a guardian can be appointed: • by a person having parental responsibility for the child under CA 1989, s 5. CA 1989, s 5(3) provides that a parent who has parental responsibility for a child (as defined in CA 1989, s 3) may appoint another individual to be the child’s guardian in the event of their death. The appointment must be made in

It is not clear from the question the proportions in which the deceased and their surviving partner held the property as tenants in common. Considering first the practical issues, the surviving partner is a joint owner of the property and joint mortgage-holder. Therefore, they have a continuing liability for the mortgage in any case, even if not sole liability. They and the beneficiaries of the deceased's interest in the property will need to try to agree, with the personal representatives, what is to happen to the property and how the mortgage is to continue to be paid or paid off. If the property is to be sold, then the outstanding mortgage would ordinarily be settled

We refer you to Practice Note: Appointment of personal representatives, in particular section: Letters of administration, which states: ‘A grant of administration is required where the deceased died intestate. The order of priority of entitlement follows the entitlement to an intestate’s estate and is set out in Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987 (NCPR 1987), SI 1987/2024. Any person within any category set out in NCPR 1987, SI 1987/2024, r 22(1) may take out the grant if: • they have a beneficial interest in the estate and • they have cleared off in the statement of truth anyone above

The intestacy rules There are two elements regarding the intestacy rules: • who is entitled to a grant when the deceased has died without making a Will—the order of priority is set out in the Non-Contentious Probate rules 1987 (NCPR 1987), SI 1987/2024, r 22. This contains a list of the various relatives—surviving spouse or civil partner, then the children of the deceased and so on. Under section 116 of the Senior Courts Act 1981 (SCA 1981), the court has a discretionary power to appoint another person as administrator other than the person entitled under NCPR 1987, SI 1987/2024 • who are the beneficiaries of the estate—the order of distribution is set out in section 46 in the Administration of Estates Act 1925 (AEA 1925). The spouse is the foremost beneficiary and then the children.

The right to repayment of a debt at the date of the creditor’s death is an asset of the creditor’s estate in the same way as any other asset held by the creditor at that time. The open market value of the right to repayment must therefore be disclosed on the inheritance tax account for the creditor. That value may not be the face value of the loan and it would depend on the terms of the loan

We refer you to Practice Note: IHT consequences of lifetime transfers (in particular, at 'Allowances and exemptions'), which explains how potentially exempt transfers (PETs) are charged to IHT on the donor's death within seven years. In particular, the available IHT annual exemption amount for the tax year in which the PET was made, plus a maximum of one carried forward annual exemption, is deducted first from

Where the deceased has not survived seven years from the date of a potentially exempt transfer (PET), the failed PET is treated as a chargeable transfer and inheritance tax (IHT) arises for the first time. The IHT that is owed on each transfer depends upon the amount

On the death of a property owner, their interest in real estate vests in their personal representative under the section 1 of the Administration of Estates Act 1925. As there is an executor appointed, we assume that there was a valid Will. As the executor derives title from the Will, title vests on the moment of death. Accordingly, the executor’s authority will subsist from the Will from the date of death. Consideration needs to be given to the status of occupation by the deceased property owner’s partner. Assuming that they occupied the property under the terms of a personal licence from the deceased (albeit granted informally), any right that they have to occupy the property (which may well in any event have terminated on the death of the deceased) can be terminated by reasonable notice (unless the terms of any licence provides otherwise). Furthermore, residential licensees are protected by section 3 of the

This Q&A has assumed that there is no other person qualified to succeed to the tenancy on the death of the tenant The executors of the deceased's estate will have authority to deal with the estate from the date of the deceased's death, not from the date on which a grant of probate is issued (see Practice Note: Personal representatives—authority prior to grant of

We have assumed that The trustees of the US trust are not UK resident for capital gains tax. The answer to this question depends largely on the nature of the trust, and the date when the chattels first became subject to it. The chattels, being UK-situs property, will not be ‘excluded property’ and so will be within the charge to inheritance tax (IHT) regardless of any other factors. It may be worth investigating how the chattels became settled in the trust. Unless the settlor signed a suitable deed assigning ownership

In broad terms, section 144 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 (IHTA 1984) confers relief from inheritance tax where property comprised in a person's estate immediately before their death is settled by their Will on discretionary trusts and, within the period of two years after their death (and before any interest in possession has subsisted in the property), there is a distribution out of the settled property. In order for IHTA 1984, s 144 to apply, the property must be settled by Will. In Bailhache