This petition was submitted during the 2015-2017 parliament
Petition Allow orphans to inherit from parents without being subject to inheritance tax.
Currently if you are a single parent and die leaving minor kids, they can only inherit up to £325,000 and anything more than that is taxed at 40%. In contrast, anything that you leave to a spouse/civil partner is inherited tax free, even if s/he is earning well and/or has sufficient own resources.
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It seems fundamentally wrong that helpless, resourceless orphans are treated less well than bereaved spouses/partners. It is not the mark of a civilized society that the inheritance of a vulnerable, hapless orphan should be raided for tax. Such a situation also leads dying single parents to enter into contrived marriages or other schemes just to shelter the assets of the estate; and sometimes that situation can go drastically wrong. Surely the UKs orphans ought to be treated better!
This petition closed early because of a General Election Find out more on the Petitions Committee website
20 signatures
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10,000 signatures required to get a government response