Kyne pursues inheritance rights for foster children

Fine Gael TD for Galway West, Sean Kyne, has welcomed the commitment by the Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan TD, to review the matter of inheritance rights for foster children.

“This week in the Dáil I raised the issue of inheritance rights for foster children with the Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan. I feel very strongly that this area needs to be reviewed.

“The current situation means that a child has to be in the care of its foster parents for a period, or periods, totalling five years before they reach they age of 18, in order to be considered the same as a blood relative for inheritance purposes. In effect the tax threshold of €15,075 would apply to any inheritance they receive, as compared with the higher threshold of €225,000 that applies to biological children.  

“This means that even where a parent wants to treat their foster child as though they were a blood relative, and include them in their will on that basis, they cannot do so without the foster child being subjected to much higher levels of gift tax or capital acquisitions tax compared with biological children.  

“I asked Minister Noonan to review the situation and this week in the Dáil he confirmed to me that he will examine, without prejudice and in conjunction with the Revenue Commissioners, the potential for a change to the five year requirement.

“I appreciate Minister Noonan’s willingness to engage with this issue and I hope this planned review will result in strengthened inheritance rights for foster children.”