Hello
My father in law is 80 and has a relatively small pension but owns and occupies a potentially very valuable property and land. He's still quite active and is looking at ways of releasing some cash.income from his property - the residue of which he intends to bequeath to my wife and her siblings. My brother in law is a builder and in due course would like to develop the property and land. He's concerned that any equity release (especially of the reversion kind) might jeopardise these plans.
A couple of options have been mooted and I wondered if anyone could comment on their merits and potential problems - particularly in relationship to inheritance tax (IHT).
Option 1. My wife and her brother purchase a lot of land at market value. The complication here is that the value of the available land (a large orchard) would be probably be highly dependent on whether the owner also owned the house and remaining land.
Option 2. My wife and her brother lend their father some money on a private equity release plan. I'm assuming that a private equity release plan of some sort is possible, however I'm not entirely sure. Does one have to be a registered lender to do this sort of thing or can a private arrangement be drawn up by a solicitor?
Obviously we'll have to consult a specialist at some stage. What's the best way to find such a specialist, would he be a lawyer, a tax specialist a financial consultant or what?
Many Thanks Fred