Readers’ forum: Would IHT be incurred on monies held in client account?

My late client and her partner who were not married purchased a house in which they lived as their permanent residence as ‘tenants in common’.

My client passed away in July 2023 leaving her surviving partner living in the property. He then decided to sell the property in December 2023 and moved to another property using his own finances and not the proceeds from the sale of the jointly owned property.

On completion of the sale of the jointly owned property the proceeds of the sale was £440 000. Fifty per cent of the proceeds passed to her surviving partner and the remaining 50% was deposited into a ‘client account’ with the solicitors dealing with my late client’s will for the benefit of her four children – where the money still remains.

There are three named trustees on the ‘life interest trust’. The surviving partner is considering terminating the...