Vintage Car Deed of Gift

[tonkatoy]

Hello, I need some advice. My father has a vintage car that is quite valuable and wants to gift it to us to avoid inheritance tax. I intend on keeping the car in the family after his death. I know about the tapering 7 year rule. My questions are:
1) Do I need a solicitor to set this up? Surely it is fairly easy (i.e. not a house) to do DIY and if so is it simply a case of a signed/witnessed document stating he has formally given the car to us?
2) Is there any advantage to gifting it to all three of his children or just me? I am the one who will eventually take charge of the car/pay for its upkeep
3) Assuming my mother survives my father (and his will states that everything goes to her) does the 7 year rule include her as well?
4) Besides changing the DVLA records to show myself as the legal owner, is there anything else I need to do to 'prove' ownership so that it does not become a 'gift with reservation'?
Thanks for any advice!

[bednobs]

i think you only need to do 4, nothing else at all

[FredPuli43]

Do 4 and also take out insurance in your name and ensure that he is not named in the insurance. Keep the car at your address. arrange all work etc on it, have invoices in your name and pay all bills in respect of it . Cancel any membership he has of any club pertaining to it ( the Bentley owners' club or the like) The idea behind 'gift with reservation' is that the donor no longer enjoys the use of the property, has not 'reserved' use for himself so the gift is in name only. You will need clear evidence that there was no 'reservation' if the Revenue questions this.
There is no advantage in gifting it to all three children but there's one big disadvantage. The Revenue will wonder how and why three of you are meant to be owners. It sounds unlike an absolute gift. A person would normally give that car to one person only,as an absolute gift to the one who wants it because he or she likes vintage cars or has always wanted it.
The seven years is from the date of the gift by your father. The same will apply to gifts by your mother.

[tonkatoy]

Thank you very much for your advice - all very clear and some great points I had not heard of. Can you just confirm whether you think I need to go through a solicitor? If not, is it as simple as my dad writing a letter stating 'I hereby gift my Bentley (well guessed FredPuli43!) to my son ec etc' and date and witness it?

[tonywiltshire]

As has been said you should do 4 and ask your Father to issue a document, which gifts the car to you, there is little point in using a solicitor unless you feel unsure. If your Father has made a will leaving all to your Mother this will not be affected as you cannot leave what you do not own.

[tonkatoy]

Thanks again for all the sage advice. I have one last question. Will I need to take my dad's name off the insurance? If the answer is yes then effectively this won't happen (nor would I dream of asking him to stop driving a car he has owned and loved for nearly 60 years). A solicitor friend of mine (not his area of expertise mind) has said that he thinks personal chattels and cash are exempt from 'reservation of benefit' as a) this was designed purely for property and b) it is incredibly difficult to prove anyway (especially cash). If exempt, then surely whether his name is on the insurance makes no difference at all. Is my friend correct do you know?

[FredPuli43]

Your solicitor friend is partly right. True that they aren't very concerned about small ordinary chattels of a personal nature but, as you may realise, if someone has a £200,000 watch, an Imperial Faberge snuff box or a £6 million yacht , saying that it was a personal chattel and the Revenue shouldn't worry when and how it was given doesn't get the executors very far! The Revenue are keen to know what gifts of any kind were made in the 7 years prior to death. The Bentley is likely to be something of interest. They will try to include it in the estate, if they can. If they do claim it to tax, which, almost needless to say, they will try (if only as a bargaining chip), you'll have to prove them wrong.
Still, your solicitor friend might draw up a deed for you, for free (friends, even lawyers, do things free!), or show you the form: WHEREAS.........NOW this deed WITNESSETH...etc Not strictly necesaary in that old, legal, form. Any document signed and witnessed and saying the same will do (I am so old, sometimes: I haven't seen one in that form for such a thing in years)