House transferred on the sly !!

Chickus

Hi,

My grandmother died a few months ago, My family (her carers) were under the understanding that she had no will made, as was the rest of her family..My granddad died 14 years ago and he left farm to my father and the house was left to my gran...After gran died my dad was made funeral arrangements etc and last week went to solicitor to organise the details of her estate...
My uncle came to my dad today and said, there is no need to proceed with the will as 10-15 years ago she gave him(my uncle) the house and that hey sorted it in the solicitors..
My dad was very very upset, not about the fact the house was left to someone else(he already had received plenty) but my dad was grans carer, he ended up paying her bills, water charges, oil etc..eve after she moved into our house.. My uncle never told anyone about this and knew well that my dad was paying for everything...He never once contributed to her care(lived very close), he often told us that he didnt know why we bothered minding her and why we didnt put her in a home..... Basically he did not give a damn about my gran
Now about 10 years ago my gran developed Dementia..He is being very shady about when he brought her to the solicitor and bank..If indeed he brought her there on the sly and when she was with Dementia(early stages), Do we have any case against him?
The rest of family presumed it would stay in family as they live away from area...and like to come home during the year..

If anyone has any advice i would be hugely grateful

ResearchWill

Simple answer maybe, speak to a solicitor. This may be a complicated area, as your gran may only have had a life estate.

Chickus

Hi,
Yeah a solicitor is being consulted..I was just writing in response to phone call with my dad, I couldn't believe it..

ezra_pound

ResearchWill wrote: »

Simple answer maybe, speak to a solicitor. This may be a complicated area, as your gran may only have had a life estate.

If she had a life estate then the house wouldn't legally be the uncles now. I presume that the grandmother held the freehold title.

ResearchWill

ezra_pound wrote: »

If she had a life estate then the house wouldn't legally be the uncles now. I presume that the grandmother held the freehold title.

With this sort of thing you can assume nothing. Hence why I said speak to a solicitor. It may or may not be freehold, a solicitor can check title. We know noting if this transaction, so best bet ask good solicitor to deal with the matter.

The only info we have came from the uncle, through the dad to the OP. people have been know to lie to get land. We in reality do not know is the uncle relaying on a transfer or a will.

Strong arm

Very upsetting and confusing for you all . It is easy to find out if the house has been transferred - get your solicitor to do a search in the land registry ( can be done online and results are instant) if your Gran did transfer the house, it is possible to challenge it if you can prove she was suffering from dementia ( medical evidence required). Depending on her age, even if transferred before diagnised with dementia , there is a presumption of duress or undue influence - ie the person benefitting under the transfer would have to prove they did not unduly influence the elderly person into making the transfer. As stated by previous posters , get your solicitor to look into what happened and when. Once you know for sure, your solicitor can advise you on whether you have a case to try to get the transfer struck down.

mickdw

You can do a search yourself on land registry. Go to land direct and zoom in on the plot of land.
You can see folio boundary free and for a small fee you can download a copy of the folio showing ownership and transaction dates. It used to ve a professionals only service but its now available to everyone although it used to be from 8am to 8pm only.
Pm me if you have any issues. I have an account with land registry and can check it for you.

Chickus

Thanks a million for your advice everyone... It is very distressing... I have trie accessing landdirect.ie.. but the map service seems unavailable at the moment..
I am sure solicitor will sort things out..Hopefully anyways..
Thanks again

mickdw

Chickus wrote: »

Thanks a million for your advice everyone... It is very distressing... I have trie accessing landdirect.ie.. but the map service seems unavailable at the moment..
I am sure solicitor will sort things out..Hopefully anyways..
Thanks again

Yes. Out of hours would be the issue. Try again tomorrow.