Need Advice - Friend wants to put land in my name. Will this affect me?

throwaway

Hey guys,

Set up a throwaway account to post this. A friend of mine has asked a favour of me and I'm not sure what to do;

He owns a couple of acres of land in Dublin and wishes to sign it over to me. His reasons for this is that in (touch wood) the event of his death I shall be responsible for the land until such time as his daughter (now 5) is eighteen and the deed for the land can be signed over to her. He does not trust his brother or mother and so asked me.

What I need to know is will this affect my tax credits, will I be expected to pay capital gains, or if I lost my job would it affect social welfare payments, anything like that? I have a wife and child now and I've a lot more to lose than I did 2 years ago. There is no income from the land. I'm just worried if this will change anything at my end, or will it just be a piece of paper I can leave in a drawer.

Bigcheeze

Don't get involved. What your friend needs is a Will, not a favour from you.

If you did accept the land it's a gift and will trigger Capital acquisitions tax.

swanvill

Hi,
Your friend needs to consult a solicitor and get a will done and within the will create a trust, which you can become a trustee and you can ensure that his five year old daughter does not swap the land for some magic beans :-)

You should not get the land transferred into your name as will create capital acquition tax for you etc.

throwaway

Thanks lads, I haven't accepted anything yet, at least nothing in writing anyway. I'll have to give him a call and we can get this sorted properly.