Changing boat ownership to family.

[jackho]

Planning ahead of the ageing process and possible tax complications, any advice on the process of handing ownership to family member while remaining skipper. Also what would be the process of adding my wife as a joint owner in advance of say my own demise.
Anyone else have this conundrum??

 

[sarabande]

Joint ownership (all 64 shares shared by both or several persons) . Dividing the 64 between 2,3, 4, or n, persons leads to complications.

 

[j24jam]

Planning ahead of the ageing process and possible tax complications, any advice on the process of handing ownership to family member while remaining skipper. Also what would be the process of adding my wife as a joint owner in advance of say my own demise.
Anyone else have this conundrum??

Draw up a Bill of Sale showing the change in ownership, can be done through a broker for a small fee, or DIY.

 

[lustyd]

I'd have thought even with a proper bill of sale you'd need to show that they were the owners to avoid tax fraud investigations. If you give it to them they'd need to show they were using it and paying for maintenance and berthing, otherwise it's still very clearly your boat.

 

[Tranona]

This is well covered on the RYA site, but it is really very simple from the ownership point of view. Just download a Bill of Sale form and fill it in. If the boat is registered on Part 1 then you register the change of ownership. There is no need to state a value on the BoS to make it valid as title.

Tax is a different matter. If you are doing this to avoid inheritance tax then it is just like any other gifts, that is the 7 year rule and gift with reservation will apply. You will therefore need to document the value of the gift at the time, probably a broker's written valuation will do.

This does not affect your ability to skipper the boat, although one could argue if you have use of it then it is a gift with reservation. You need to take professional advice on this.