wills and tenants in common

sanfly

Having read a lot of info on here re wills and tenants in common we are thinking of rewriting our wills and leaving our half's of the property to our children, however there is some talk of potential pitfalls to this, if our children inherited half the property and then went through bankruptcy, divorce, child maintenance type things etc, would that be classed as an asset that they have, leading to their half of the property being sold from under the surviving partner....thanks

sloughflint

Postponing the gift to the children until after the death of the second spouse avoids those pitfalls.

Half the property is put in trust.

Try googling 'life interest wills' or 'protective property trust'.

sanfly

Having spent the last few days researching the subject of tenants in common and wills, we have become totally confused as to whether it is a good thing to 1) change to tenants in common and 2) who to use if we get our wills rewritten.
The tenants in common route and solicitors / will writers all seem to attract their fair share of criticism on the forums, if we proceed we were thinking of using the "ten minute will company" their on line system seems to be well thought out and looks professional,anybody had any experience of them, the obvious problem is you do not know if they are any good until its to late to find out!

margaretclare

I think, before you do any of this, you should be absolutely clear what it is you hope to achieve.

Changing the title to a property is done fairly simply through the Land Registry and doesn't need the intervention of either a solicitor or will-writer. See www.landregisters.co.uk

HTH

sloughflint

sanfly wrote: »

Having spent the last few days researching the subject of tenants in common and wills, we have become totally confused as to whether it is a good thing to 1) change to tenants in common and 2) who to use if we get our wills rewritten.

In that case I think you really need to speak to someone who knows what they are talking about and advise depending upon your circumstances/ objectives.

sanfly wrote: »

if we proceed we were thinking of using the "ten minute will company" their on line system seems to be well thought out and looks professional,anybody had any experience of them, the obvious problem is you do not know if they are any good until its to late to find out!

In my opinion the internet is beneficial for gaining background information only.

EdInvestor

The best way to do this is to change to TIC and then for each party to leave their half of the house to the children in trust, with a life interest to the surviving parent.

It's likely you'll need a solicitor or will writer to do this because of the trust bit.

margaretclare

The best way to do this is to change to TIC and then for each party to leave their half of the house to the children in trust, with a life interest to the surviving parent.

Maybe, but have they thought through exactly WHY they want to do this?

Having read a lot of info on here re wills and tenants in common we are thinking of rewriting our wills and leaving our halves of the property to our children

Think it through. There has to be a reason why you want to take this step. What exactly are you hoping to achieve, or to avoid?

sloughflint

margaretclare wrote: »

Maybe, but have they thought through exactly WHY they want to do this?

Which is perhaps why speaking to a professional is important.

Ten minute Will do a one pararaph explanation. EdInvestor and I limited ours to a few lines.
All unsatisfactory in my view.No wonder Op is confused.

Not only do the couple need to be clear about why they want to do this, they need to be sure that it is the best course of action for them and be aware of the pros and cons of the various options available to them.

As an example, I wonder if OP has managed to gleam from all the online info around whether the surviving spouse could downsize? ( yes btw)

That online company may offer the service but a ( decent) professional is the way to go IMO.

sanfly

Thanks for the all the replies, to clarify, the reason we are thinking of doing it is that my father had to go into care with Alzheimer's, where he spent 2 years before he passed on, at the time my mother had a trust will written leaving everything to me and my sister in trust. When our time comes we do not believe we will be liable for IHT, but would like to protect half the bungalow, I understand the comments re getting advice from a professional, its getting the right professional thats the problem, already been burnt once before by a professional financial adviser, once bitten as they say, I suppose an option is to just copy my mums will and change the names,thats if the trust type will is the way to go??

sloughflint

sanfly wrote: »

I suppose an option is to just copy my mums will and change the names,thats if the trust type will is the way to go??

Remember there are different types of trusts .Can you be sure that the type your Mum had is what you also require?

Society of Trusts and Estate Practitioners as a possibility?

margaretclare

I agree with sloughflint.

Also, to me it seems somewhat bizarre to leave half a bungalow to 'the children' (how many?)

You can't chop a property up into halves, quarters, eighths etc.

But that's me, probably the way my mind works. I can visualise a couple owning a property equally and having no arguments about it. It's where we live and where we're happy. But the more people get involved the more possibility there is for all kinds of arguments, previously affectionate siblings almost declaring war over 'it's my share' etc.

What became of the bungalow that was in trust for you and your sister - is this the same bungalow we're talking about now? If so, what happened to your sister's half-share?