Interest in possession created in a will

In 1985 on their retirement the taxpayer’s parents bought a property with the wife’s brother for them all to live in. They executed a declaration of trust that the property was to be held as to five-eighths for the brother and three-eighths as joint tenants by the husband and wife.

The couple put in place mirror wills bequeathing the property ultimately after the deaths of all three to the couple’s daughter .

The husband died in June 2001 and the wife four months later. On the latter’s death the solicitor purported to vest the three-eighths share of the home in the taxpayer by amending the Land Registry record.

The brother lived in the house until he died in 2013. He stayed abroad for long periods abroad during which time the daughter would check on the house. He continued to pay the bills and insure and maintain the property.

After...