Ask the Money Doctor: John Lowe on family finance

Question: My widowed mother lives in a four-bedroom detached house valued at €400,000 and I live with my husband and two young daughters in a two bed townhouse. I am an only child and my mother has suggested we swap houses as her home is too big for her. What are the tax and inheritance implications?

*Cathy, Milltown, Dublin 6*

**Answer:** ’This depends on whether your mother wants to permanently gift you her ...