What would happen to our house?......

Firefly

Then of course this could all be settled by writing a will! Please do it. As scary as it is when faced with the initial paperwork, amost like facing your own mortality, you feel so much more reassured when it's done. Then you forget about it!

I can write one every year with my bank account free of charge.

Steel_2

Apologies Sloughflint. I stand well and truly corrected

The gumpf I was spouting was told to me by a solicitor.

I guess he wanted my Will writing business so much he was prepared to be economical with the truth.

SandC

I might be wrong here, but doesn't the tenancy issue become a bit redundant when you marry, unless you have something written up that says otherwise? I thought the tenancy issue was for those who are not married.

Regardless of that, you must both make a will setting out exactly where you wish your estate to go. Make very sure that you get the proper advice on this because simply saying 25% of the house value goes to your husband's children from his first marriage might mean that if the worst were to happen your husband and your children would have to sell the house in order to pay the 25% that you have left to his other children. It is best that he has that set out in his will but you don't in yours.

sloughflint

SandC wrote: »

I might be wrong here, but doesn't the tenancy issue become a bit redundant when you marry, unless you have something written up that says otherwise? I thought the tenancy issue was for those who are not married.

Married or not, the tenancy determines how the property is owned.

pollyanna24

willdrafters wrote: »

In simple terms, you can gift whatever you own at the time of your death via your Will. However, if you own a property as joint tenants then at the time of your death your share does not fall in to your estate. Instead, it goes automatically to the surviving joint tenant regardless of what you might or might not have said in your Will.

This also applies to money held in a joint account.

Please note, however, that for inheritance tax purposes, in spite of the joint tenancy, the tax man would consider that you owned half the property when calculating the value of your estate at death for IHT purposes.

I asked this of my boss (a solicitor, but not specially in probate, so not sure if he would be right) and he seemed to be of the impression that I would get half the money in our joint account at time of death (if bf died for example) and then bf's parents would get his half (as we are not married and have no Wills).

Up until he told me that, I had assumed that any accounts we have jointly, if something happened to one of us, the whole amount of the money in that account would transfer to the other person.

Which is right? I have got the Wills, just haven't got around to getting anyone to witness them yet.

Rikki

As you are not legally married and don't have wills in place (not witnessed) the money goes to the deceased next of kin. If no children it goes to the deceased parents.

sloughflint

pollyanna24 wrote: »

I asked this of my boss (a solicitor, but not specially in probate, so not sure if he would be right) and he seemed to be of the impression that I would get half the money in our joint account at time of death (if bf died for example) and then bf's parents would get his half (as we are not married and have no Wills).

No this is not correct. All the funds in the account would automatically become yours but for tax purposes half the value at date of death would be counted as part of his estate.

edit after reading Rikki's post. I'm not so sure because my experience was for a married couple but my belief is that joint acount ownership is just like joint tenancy whatever the marital status. I wouldn't put money on this though so someone correct me if necessary.

sloughflint

My friend google again:
http://www.thesite.org/homelawandmoney/askthesiteqandas/moneyqandas/stopthearguments

Question

A close friend of mine died recently. He was only 25 and didn't have a will. His parents and girlfriend are trying to sort everything out but, obviously, it's very difficult for them all and an argument has started about the joint account he and his girlfriend had. Can you tell me whether the money should legally go to his girlfriend or his next of kin?
Answer

This must be a very difficult time for you and we offer our sympathy for your loss.
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, when a joint account holder dies the balance on the account automatically passes to the remaining account holder.

localhero

Sloughflint you are quite right.

You seem to have more knowledge on this subject than the average solicitor - though I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing!

sloughflint

localhero wrote: »

Sloughflint you are quite right.

You seem to have more knowledge on this subject than the average solicitor - though I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing!

LOL. Thanks for the compliment but it is truly frightening what goes on.

After prior appalling exeriences, I found myself using the web to check whatever the last solicitor used was saying to me.
You've probably guessed: not always correct despite being a specialist in the field originally instructed for.

Your signature says it all for me really. I would suggest anyone wanting to get a Will professionally written should check what relevant exams have been undertaken and furthermore what insurance the company possesses.