IHT and the residence nil rate band (RNIB)

Question about inheritance tax and the residence nil rate band (RNRB) My mother and father were married and lived together in the same house for 50 years, until my mother died in 2014. My father continued to live in the house until January 2023, when he moved into a care home. They owned the house jointly (50:50). It has been empty for the past 12 months. We are considering selling the house to cover the care home costs. When my mother died, she left her share of the house to my sister and i. At the time, the house was valued at £450k. She also left us cash of an amount such that it used up all of her IHT allowance at the time (£325k). i.e. my sister and i inherited 0.25 of the house each (2 x £112.5k = £225k) and 0.5 each of £325k - £225k = 2 x £50k. I understand that 'in normal circumstances' the remaining IHT allowance of the deceased partner is passed to the surviving partner. I believe that even though the RNRB of £175k was not introduced until 2017, 3 years after my mother's death, that it would still be passed to my father. Two questions .... 1 Is the RNRB of a partner who died before the RNRB was introduced in 2017 passed the partner surviving beyond 2017? 2 Does the fact that ownership of my mother's 50% of the house passed to my sister and i in her will rather than to my father affect the passing on of her RNRB (subject to the fact it wasn't introduced until 2017) to my father? Thx :-)

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