Unconstituted NRB Will Trust

Thoughts from my esteemed STEP colleagues please.

Wife died in 2016 with a NRBDWT. Son, one of the executors, thought he knew best and because the estate consisted of a property and bank account, just helped his Dad transfer everything into the Dad’s sole name. Petty standard stuff… However, Dad died in 2017. My questions are:

  1. Now that Dad has died, it’s impossible to make an absolute appointment of Mum’s NRBDWT assets to Dad, obviously (?)
  2. Kessler’s “Drafting Trusts & Will Trusts” chapter 19 mentions making an absolute appointment to the other beneficiaries who can then effect a variation - it’s “specialist drafting” however;
  3. Can we state that there was a debt of £325,000 against Dad’s estate in lieu of constituting the NRBDWT? If so, where does this get noted on the Dad’s probate application forms?
  4. What’s the impact on the transferable nil rate band and the transferable residence nil rate band (if any)?

Paul Hutchinson
Hutchinson Legal & Associates Limited