Two heterosexual Irish men marry to avoid inheritance tax on property

[Equinox Moon]

Source: Guardian

23 Dec 2017
Two Irish men have married in Dublin to avoid paying 50,000 in inheritance tax on a house.

Best friends Matt Murphy and Michael OSullivan are both heterosexual, but decided to get married when they discovered how much tax would have to be paid on the house Murphy, 83, intended to leave in his will to OSullivan, 58, who is his carer.

Same-sex marriage was legalised in Ireland following a referendum in May 2015.

Each man went through some tough times, with OSullivan becoming homeless and Murphy suffering from giant cell arteritis, which affects the optic nerve.

I stayed over with him for a while and eventually Matt said Why dont you come and stay here? I would go over and stay with him the odd time but never full time. Murphy could not afford to pay OSullivan as a carer. Eventually Matt said the only way he could pay me was to leave me the house. He said he would give me the house so I have somewhere to live when he goes.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/23/two-heterosexual-irish-men-marry-to-avoid-inheritance-tax-on-house

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Love Is Love Is Love Is Love... The many faces of love.

People need people and somehow we find our way to helping each other. Yes!



The article mentions what they did with their ceremony.

[geogreen]

1. God Bless the Irish! /nt

[Equinox Moon]

2. Welcome to DU

[rzemanfl]

3. Used to use adult adoption to save taxes. n/t

[Equinox Moon]

4. What is adult adoption?

[rzemanfl]

5. Here-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adult_adoption

[Shrike47]

6. One adult adopting another adult. You, age 50, adopt a 25 year old.

Makes for great plots for novels of the lower-brow sort (the kind I might read).

[Equinox Moon]

7. Fascinating. I have never heard of this. Clever.

[jberryhill]

8. People get married for many reasons

Adding the qualifier of "same sex marriage" does not change the fact that people have been entering into marriages for all sorts of reasons for a very long time, and will continue to do so.

[babylonsister]

9. I love this!! Love Is Love Is... yes! nt

[The Genealogist]

10. And? Would this be a news story if it were man and woman marrying to do it?

Nope.

[Loki Liesmith]

11. Its a contract

Up to them why they want to enter into it.

[GulfCoast66]

12. Good.

[question everything]

13. This is how "Boston Legal" ended

"Denny" - William Shatner - the super conservative partner, did not want to pay a lot of taxes on his wealth. So he and "Alan Shore" - James Spader, the super liberal, decided to get married. This was before the Supreme Court decision so they went to - don't remember, MA, NH? - and there they ran into "Scalia" who married them.

[a kennedy]

14. Seriously??? Loved Boston Legal and dont remember the ending....my bad.

[question everything]

15. 'Boston Legal' finale: I Now Pronounce You Denny and Alan

http://ew.com/article/2008/12/09/boston-legal-1/

In Massachusetts, where same sex marriages are legal, it would give Alan the right to make the difficult medical decisions ahead, to not testify against Denny the next time he’s arrested for breaking and entering and sexual assault (those charges were dropped when Alzheimer’s-stricken Denny admitted that he had no idea how he ended up naked in his neighbor’s bed), and to share Denny’s wealth without the gift tax. But when that didn’t work, he spoke from that enormous, foolish heart of his: “I’ve always wanted to remarry before I die….I just have. And like it or not, you’re the man I love.” How could Alan look into that face that expressed childlike wonder, innocence, and sheer joy better than anyone and deny his dying best friend his last wish? Especially when it could lead to a court appearance. (The local chapter of the Gay and Lesbian League, fearing the union would fuel the rightwing belief that hetero couples would exploit same-sex marriage for tax breaks, tried to put an injunction on their marriage license, but the judge ruled that the government doesn’t — and shouldn’t — ask couples why they’re marrying.)

In the end, Alan and Denny and Carl (John Larroquette) and Shirley (Candice Bergen) had a double wedding in Nimmo Bay (after the latter couple’s priest and rabbi started a Holy War), officiated by Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia (played by Jack Shearer), who happened to be there on a fishing trip right after hearing Alan’s case asking for Denny to be allowed access to a non-FDA approved drug that could slow his Alzheimer’s…

[YOHABLO]

16. So good for them. I wish them both a better life.

[Upward]

17. I Love the Smell of Loophole Abuse in the Morning

Seriously ... guy could have just taken out an insurance policy.

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. No, an insurance policy for someone 83 will be very expensive

because it's just a way of storing up money for the payout in a few years. I think (though I've never looked at Irish inheritance tax law before) that if you left your house to a friend, they would fall in the 'Group C' category, and pay inheritance tax on anything above €16,250 - see http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/money_and_tax/tax/capital_taxes/capital_acquisitions_tax.html . And that's taxed at 33%; that could easily be more than the rest of the assets the older man has, so that the house would have to be sold to pay the bill (and it could also be more than he could afford in premiums for 'insurance', ant 83 with a health condition).

[greymattermom]

19. In Ireland you could marry anyone except your children I think.

So the new law allowing marriage discriminates against marriage?

[Maeve]

20. Neither sex nor sexuality have anything to do with it

Good on them for solving a legal problem with a legal solution (and good on the Irish for making it possible!)

[Equinox Moon]

21. EXACTLY!

Thank you for posting how I feel about this.