deed transfer

section4

can a child of 12 sign a deed of transfer to transfer land into his name;

ie: someone who owns land transfers part of it over to X Y and Z
Xand Y are adults and Z is 12; X and Y sign but they are adults but can a child of 12 sign a deed and get the part of the land they are getting their name; do they have the legal capacity to do this;

Wantobe

No.

section4

why not

and if they did would that mean the deed was invalid

egan2020

The child would have to be eighteen years before they have the capacity to sign the deed of transfer. The child's share can probably be transferred to another person who would hold the property in trust for the child until they reached eighteen.

section4

egan2020 wrote: »

The child would have to be eighteen years before they have the capacity to sign the deed of transfer. The child's share can probably be transferred to another person who would hold the property in trust for the child until they reached eighteen.

what if the childs name has been signed on deed and witnessed by solicitor and lodged in land registry and accepted as if child was adult

egan2020

A solicitor shouldn't witness the signature of a twelve year old child on a deed of transfer and the transfer is not valid.

grumpytrousers

section4 wrote: »

what if the childs name has been signed on deed and witnessed by solicitor and lodged in land registry and accepted as if child was adult

What do you mean, what if?

You asked can a child sign a deed. Yes he can. Physically. He can pick up a biro, sign his name, and the Land Registry knowing no better will quite possibly register him as co-owner.

Legally, no. He doesn't have the capacity to deal with lands, simple as, and the solicitor should know this and shouldn't allow it to happen. If somebody comes along next year with a bag of money for the land in question and offers to give X & Y half a million each, and give Z a subscription to Nuts magazine till he's 18, d'you think that Z should sign that contract?

Why not?

Cos he doesn't have the same legal parity as an adult.

This is also why people who are mentally handicapped have to become wards of court when they're left something on a will/intestacy. They can't look out for themselves and there's a real risk that they'll be taken advantage of.

The 12 year old has already been taken advantage of.

Our man in Havana

The same carry on happens where people register cars in the names of minors for nefarious purposes.

section4

if this did happen and the deed was lodged at land registry and accepted and the land transferred into xyz name what would happen if some one else was also entitled to as share of the land and there name was never mentioned, what could they do.

and if this childs name was on the deed of tranfer and witnessed by the solicitor who would have to be aware the child was 12 or at least be aware he most certainly was not 18 , would this solicitor have done something wrong by allowing the child to sign the deed as if he was an adult and allowing it to be registred at land registry, if this had happened would the solicitor be open to penalties for doing this/

Our man in Havana

The aggrieved owner could take action in the courts to recover their rights.

and if this child's name was on the deed of transfer and witnessed by the solicitor who would have to be aware the child was 12 or at least be aware he most certainly was not 18 , would this solicitor have done something wrong by allowing the child to sign the deed as if he was an adult and allowing it to be registered at land registry, if this had happened would the solicitor be open to penalties for doing this?

The solicitor would be disciplined by the law society.

Carawaystick

Does the solicitor need to see proof of age of anyone signing a deed?
if so is it strict liability, like of the minor shows fake id to falsify their age is the minor or the solicitor liable?

Victor

While most see land as being an asset, it might also be a liability, eg. if it was polluted and had a clean-up order against it or if it had a listed building in a delapidated state.

section4

Carawaystick wrote: »

Does the solicitor need to see proof of age of anyone signing a deed?
if so is it strict liability, like of the minor shows fake id to falsify their age is the minor or the solicitor liable?

you might have a point if a child was 16 or so but if a child was 11 or 12 you would imagine that any normal person would be able to tell that they were not 18/ I wonder is threre any law that says if the solicitor is in doubt which could easily be the case with a lot of people even from 15 upwards that he has to ensure that they are of proper legal age to sign deeds.

grumpytrousers

see i find it odd that a 12 year old would be party to the purchase of 'Real' property without the solicitor knowing this in advance. The contracts would be recieved by the solicitor and in more cases than not, the solicitor and the purchasers would meet to discuss the matter, go through the contract, identify the lands in sale and so forth.

I know kids these days can look older, but 12 year olds passing themselves off as 18 year olds - I don't think so!

happyoutish

I'm not 100% sure but I think the Law Society brought out a new law that when dealing with new clients they have to produce ID and proof of address.

surely if this did happen the Solicitor could tell the child was not over 18 I mean come on a 12 year old looking and acting like an 18 year old??

I would contact the Law Society and the Property Registration Authority.

Don't think you can put a deed in trust anymore either!?!?

section4

happyoutish wrote: »

I'm not 100% sure but I think the Law Society brought out a new law that when dealing with new clients they have to produce ID and proof of address.

surely if this did happen the Solicitor could tell the child was not over 18 I mean come on a 12 year old looking and acting like an 18 year old??

I would contact the Law Society and the Property Registration Authority.

Don't think you can put a deed in trust anymore either!?!?

As I understand it land was trandferred voluntary to 3 people X Y and Z who would be 11 or 12 and was wirtnessed by a solicitor.

deed then lodged and accepted by land registry who would obviously presume all were signed by adults.

hard to believe this could happen but aparently it did.

what I cant understand is surely a solicitor could see the child was not 18, would he not have some kind of responsibility to ensure the child did not sign as he would not be of legal capacity.

what should happen if say a child of 11 was left something in a will. how would he get it n his name if he cant sign anything.

happyoutish

This is an Extract from P.D.11 from the Property Registration authority:-

it might help!!