Executor transfer title to non-beneficiary?

My grandmother recently passed away leaving her house to my father and aunty in equal shares. My father is the executor. I have agreed to buy the place off my father and aunty.

We have obtained a grant of probate and would like to now transfer the estate. As the executor, can my father transfer it directly to myself and avoid stamp duty or does it have to go to in my dads name (without SD) and then I buy it off him and pay stamp duty?

 

You should speak to a good lawyer. Stamp duty would normally apply, but there could be ways around this depending on the terms of the will etc.

 

Spoke to a property lawyer and the titles office. It's a no-go as I'm not a beneficiary in the will.

The property goes to Dad as the executor and he then 'sells' it to me. Even if he 'gifts' it to me it needs a market valuation and then stamp duty must be paid.

A bit of forward planning could have avoided the SD if I was the sole beneficiary in the will but that would have been a sensitive subject with my grandma.

You win some, you lose some

 

That is why it is good to have an optional testamentary discretionary trust incorporated in the will

 

You must have great powers of persuasion! In your first post you were going to buy the property from dad and aunty, and now they're "selling" it or gifting it to you.

Keep things in perspective: you are gaining a valuable property and losing less than 5% of the windfall in duties. You did right to respect you grandma's sensitivities.

 

Make sure you know the tax consequences of you receiving the property as a gift.