I gave my son my house (with no reservation) in 1994, and moved to an inherited smaller house. I did not transfer the deeds at the time. Is there a PET form for inheritance tax purposes that has to be signed? When I enquired at the tax office, it seemed to be a retrospective thing on death. They were not very forthcoming.

Arthur Weller Replies:
There is no PET form that needs to be signed. However I am concerned that you make sure that what you did in 1994 was sufficient to achieve your goals. If you didn’t transfer the deeds to your son, did you at least write a ‘declaration of trust’, transferring the beneficial ownership to him? Because if all you did was something verbal, then you should know that in this country anything relating to land since 1989 must be in writing – see http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/cgmanual/CG14262.htm.