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Should the solicitor who acted in the purchase of this property in the joint names of the deceased and the claimant have raised the issue with them? Perhaps he did, I hope he did, but what if he didn't?

When I dealt with a claim of this nature the court endorsed an agreement whereby the whole of the estate passed to the widow, and so no IHT, but she then took the amount of the IHT which would otherwise have had to be paid, and gave the balance to the claimant, who was, therefore, no worse off. All she then had to do was to insure the widow's life for seven years and for whatever IHT would have been payable by her estate had she died in the meantime. As things stand there are now a whole load of legal fees plus the IHT. How will the surviving joint owner find the money to pay all that?

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