My mother passed away in 2003 and as the house was worth about £480,000. My mother and father split the ownership into Tennants in Common in 1995 so My father owned £240,000 and my mother owned the other £240,000.
When my mother passed away I inherited half the house and got the other half when my father passed away in January.
At that time if she had left the house just to my father inheritance tax would have been payable on amounts above £325,000 when the house came to me.
As a result of my parents actions no inheritance would have been payable as I inherited £280,000 from my father and £280,.000 from my mother.
This changed later so a married couple could leave £650,000 and the estate would not be liable for inheritance tax.
This was backdated regardless of when the spouse died.
This was fair as assetts are normally transferred to the spouse within marriage and to the children when the last parent passes away.
In our case however my father was taken into a nursing home and was NHS funded.
If this had not been the case if my father had been the owner of all of the house all of it could have been taken for care fees.
As I owned half of it none could be taken as my fathers half was worthless as I owned half of it and had the right to occupy the house so it is worth a husband / wife leaving half the house to the children on the first death.