Gifting my share of a property

Probably more of a question for the solicitor who did your probate really. But are you sure that any part of the house will go to you? If your mother and stepfather bought the property jointly, then it is most likely his property completely.

But, assuming you've been down this path already, than that one-third share in the house is yours already. You can gift it to your sister now if you want to remove any ambiguity or headaches. Especially with property prices rising, sooner is better than later.

There is a specific re-gifting clause in the tax rules where if A gives you something and you give to B within a certain amount of time, then for tax purposes it's treated as coming directly from A to B and not from you. You're probably outside of the timeframe to look at that, but it's worth investigating. If you can still avail of that, then you should do that because your share of the house will be deemed as have come from your mother to your sister and thus she won't be liable for CAT.

Then yeah, I would look into that CAT rule I mention above. I forget the name of it now and a quick google hasn't helped. Someone else might know.

Either way, I would arrange to transfer your share to your sister as soon as possible. Any CAT payable will be based on a valuation, and since prices are going up, the longer you wait the more will have to be paid.

It will be a gift from you to your sister as probate is finished, you took the cash and there was no deed of arrangement. Ideally it should have been done at the time the executor assented to the transfer as you could have used the lowest possible valuation, although it would have triggered an immediate bill for your sister. If you transfer now the tax will become payable within a short period so make sure your sister can pay the tax before you transfer or the interest on the tax bill will accumulate rapidly.