You might recall that I recently posted about consanguinity relief and the impact of the relief. (See https://theprobatehub.ie/2022/02/23/a-note-on-consanguinity-relief/). Just an additional post script on this thanks to one of our regular readers and member of our group.

A beneficiary of an estate may wish to buy an asset out of an estate not left to them. We will call this person the “buying beneficiary”. The buying beneficiary may be a relative of the deceased. A question arose as to whether consanguinity relief would apply in this case. Good question. Having looked at the matter the relief would not apply in this case. The legislation is clear in that the relationship must be in existence. So if one of the parties is deceased, then, the relief will not apply. So even though the buying beneficiary was related to the deceased, they cannot avail of the relief if buying the asset from the estate.

However having said that, if the beneficiary getting the asset under the estate was related to the buying beneficiary, then it would make sense in that case for the person getting the benefit to assent the property into their name and thus establishing the relationship with the buying beneficiary. If this step was conducted the asset would then come back into the frame of the relief.

Hope this helps and if you have any probate, capacity or will drafting queries please reach out to ckelly@hcalaw.ie