I have an interesting estate where an Attorney has been paying all care costs for some time and advises they did not expect to benefit from mother’s Will. The Will leaves everything to a charity. The only assets in the estate are the property and a small bank account of £15,000.
The Attorney states they did not know the property was owned by them and mother as joint tenants.
They have also stated that they want to be reimbursed the care fees they paid (+£50,000).This is clearly would make the estate insolvent.
My main question is….can an attorney who chose not to sell property which they automatically benefit from on death claim care costs from the estate?
If the joint tenant did not know of that fact, it is possible that the care costs were paid on the understanding that there would be reimbursement from the estate, since if the property had been solely owned by the deceased there would have been sufficient assets in the estate to allow for that. Is there any evidence of the nature of the understanding in place about reimbursement?
If, as it seems, the asset passes wholly outside of the estate it seems irrelevant to the question of reimbursement whether they choose to sell the house or not. I assume half the value of the house plus the cash is below 500k and thus IHT not in issue.
Are there any factors in the circumstances under which or the timing of the event by which the child became a JT which raise questions about whether the ownership might be as TIC instead? Was there a gift by the deceased- if so what was the nature of the gift for tax purposes? Was it perhaps inherited from the other parent?. Does the will file shed any light?