Tenants in Common/Joint Tenants

nic82

Hi,

I'm not sure if this is the best place to post this or not...

I'm currently filling in an inheritance tax form about someone that died. At the time of his death (November 2005) he owned a house with his partner (my sister). The house was sold in May this year.

In order to complete the form, I need to know whether the house was held as tenants in common or joint tenants. I have asked my sister and she doesn't know. How can I find out? If I ring the company who the mortgage was with, would they be able to tell me (would they even tell me due to data protection)?

As they weren't married, is there one type of ownership that it is most likely to be. My sister said that they didn't request anything specifically, so is there one type that would be automatically defaulted to?

Many thanks!

prudryden

Tenants in common means that his 1/2 will pass as per his will or if no will, it will pass to his nearest living relative.
Joint Tenancy with right of survivorship means that your sister will inherit the property.
The mortgage deeds will tell which one it is. Hopefully, its joint tenancy.

Sorry, but that was a very brief explanation. There may be tax differences, which someone else can pick up on. They should be along shortly.

prudryden

Sorry - just read your post again. House already sold - so I take it the proceeds have already been allocated. I think I need a coffee.

pollyanna24

I'm not married and me and bf are joint tenants in our property. I.e. if he dies, I get his half and vice versa.

I don't remember being asked if I wanted anything different. Usually if you buy a house with a friend or business partner, it would be tenants in common rather than joint tenants.

uncle_ben_2

As far as I know, a married couple will be tenants in common - which means that both parties will share 100% responsibility for the property... Joint tenants will each have a 50% share, and would need to 'buy out' the other half if necessary... at least that is my understanding of it...

Bossyboots

uncle_ben wrote:

As far as I know, a married couple will be tenants in common - which means that both parties will share 100% responsibility for the property... Joint tenants will each have a 50% share, and would need to 'buy out' the other half if necessary... at least that is my understanding of it...

Actually you have that back to front and a married couple can be tenants in common if they so choose. In fact, it is one of the recommended ways of maximising inheritance tax thresholds.

As to the OP, how was the house sold if inheritance tax has not yet been paid. You cannot normally process the estate unless the tax is paid first.

That aside, it sounds like you or the sister will need to contact the solicitor who handled the sale and ask them to check their file and see what the documentation said. Hopefully they will have kept something on file that will give you your answer.

prudryden

uncle_ben wrote:

As far as I know, a married couple will be tenants in common - which means that both parties will share 100% responsibility for the property... Joint tenants will each have a 50% share, and would need to 'buy out' the other half if necessary... at least that is my understanding of it...

It's the other way around.:)

EdInvestor

nic82 wrote:

As they weren't married, is there one type of ownership that it is most likely to be. My sister said that they didn't request anything specifically, so is there one type that would be automatically defaulted to?

Many thanks!

It's probably joint tenants, so that she automatically inherited when he died.If it were tenants in common, they both should have made out wills leaving their half to the other, so she would know about it.

If the total value of his estate (incl half the house) was less than c 285k,then no IHT is payable anyway.

Robert_Sterling

The house was sold.
If they were Joint Tenants then the house would belong to your sister.
So she would have to sign documents concerning the sale
and if there was any equity in the house she would get it.
If they were Tenants in Common then your sister would have to have agreed to the sale of the house and would have received her share of the equity.
However if the man was the sole owner then that is a diiferent kettle of fish.




This is not Financial or Legal advice ... Just my opinion.

nic82

Thank you to everyone who replied.

From your descriptions, the house was owned as joint tenants as the house automatically passed to my sister.

To clear a couple bits up...

Because my sister's partner was so young when he died (24) and they'd only bought the house five months before his death, the estate was tiny. Because of this, we didn't need to apply for probate and the house sale was able to go through.

However, we are now suing the person that caused the accident which killed my sister's partner (as they have not been punished by the courts), the person's solicitor won't accept any claim unless probate has been granted and before probate can be granted, I (as executor) need to fill in an inheritance tax form. I believe that it is just a formality, as there is no inheritance tax to pay.

Thank you again to everyone who replied.

prudryden

That's the first shot by the person's lawyer. By him not accepting the claim, doesn't stop you proceeding. If he doesn't show up at the magistrates court, he risks losing by default. He's already looking for a settlement.