Transferring a house, a site or land to a son or daughter is, mechanically, a deed executed, stamped and registered. It is almost never only a conveyancing question — it is a succession decision, a tax decision and a family decision arriving at once.
Five Questions Before the Deed
1. What is the tax position? Frequently the whole reason for the timing, and squarely a matter for your accountant and Revenue rather than this firm — but get it settled before anything is signed, because a transfer executed in the wrong shape is expensive and sometimes impossible to unwind. 2. Will you continue living there? If so, a right of residence may be appropriate — a right reserved on the transfer and registered as a burden on the folio, sometimes with rights of support or maintenance attached. It is common in Irish family transfers and genuinely protective. It also affects the value and marketability of the property and can complicate a later sale or mortgage by the child, so its terms matter. 3. What if circumstances change? A marriage breakdown, a bankruptcy, or the child predeceasing you. 4. Are other children provided for, and how does this sit with your will? A substantial lifetime transfer to one child reshapes an estate whether or not anyone says so aloud. 5. Can you afford to give away an asset you may later need? The hardest question and the one least often asked.
Each Side Needs Their Own Solicitor
This is the point most resisted within families and the one that matters most. A parent transferring and a child receiving have different interests, and each is entitled to advice from someone whose only duty is to them — including advice not to proceed. That matters most where the parent is elderly, where a right of residence is involved, where other children may feel differently, or where the transfer forms part of a wider succession plan. It is not distrust, and it should not be presented or received as such: it is what stops the transaction being questioned after a death, which is precisely the argument nobody wants their children to be having. A transfer where the parent had no independent advice is a transfer that can be challenged, and the challenge lands on the child who received it. Where farmland is involved there is a further layer of succession and tax considerations again, which runs through farmsolicitor.ie, and the estate planning side through probatesolicitordublin.ie. The full page is here.
The order that works: accountant first on the tax, then legal advice on the shape, then the deed. Reversing it is how families end up with a transfer that achieved something nobody intended.
Thinking about a transfer? 01 5827148.
Richard O’Shea — Solicitor & TEP
Solicitor at Mary Molloy Solicitors, established 1981, with an office at 2 Rose Inn Street in Kilkenny city centre and a second office in Dublin. The firm handles residential and rural conveyancing across Kilkenny and the south-east — buying, selling, sites and farmland, family transfers, remortgages and transfers of equity. Richard is a TEP of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, which matters more in conveyancing than people expect: a great many property transactions in Kilkenny arise out of an estate, a family transfer or a succession plan, and those need both sides handled together. Nothing here is tax advice — stamp duty and any gift or inheritance tax questions belong with your accountant and Revenue. 01 5827148 · richardoshea@marymolloysolicitors.com · LinkedIn
General information, not legal advice. This website contains general information about conveyancing and property law in Ireland. It is not legal advice and does not create a solicitor—client relationship. Every transaction turns on its own facts — the title, the planning position, the lender’s requirements and the contract — and advice on yours requires a consultation.
Nothing here is tax advice. Stamp duty, Local Property Tax, capital gains on a sale, and any gift or inheritance tax arising on a family transfer are matters for your accountant or tax adviser and for Revenue’s own guidance. This firm does not advise on tax and states no rate, threshold, relief or condition anywhere on this site. Where a scheme such as Help to Buy or the First Home Scheme is mentioned, the eligibility rules and limits are set by Revenue and the scheme administrators and change from time to time — confirm the current position directly with them.
No valuation, survey or financial advice. This firm does not value property, does not advise on price, and is not a surveyor, engineer or mortgage adviser. A solicitor’s investigation of title is not a structural survey and is not a substitute for one, and no legal work will tell you whether a property is sound or whether the price is right.
Never both sides of the same transaction. The firm acts for buyers and, in separate transactions, for sellers — but not for both parties to the same sale. Conflicts are checked before any substantive discussion, which is why the first contact should identify the property and every party involved.
No timeline is promised. Nothing on this site states or implies that a transaction will close by any particular date. Closing depends on matters outside any solicitor’s control, including the other side, the lender, the chain, and third parties such as local authorities and Tailte Éireann.
Fees. Fees and outlays are agreed in writing with the client at the outset, in accordance with the Legal Services Regulation Act. In contentious business, a solicitor may not calculate fees or other charges as a percentage or proportion of any award or settlement.