Removing dead spouse name on deed and adding beneficiaries

poppystar

Land_Registry wrote: »

Sage advice from other posters re getting professional advice and bearing that cost. I would perhaps have expected the 'what happens next' scenarios to have been covered when the wills/life interest/trust were set up but as I said our expertise is not in that area so may be reasons why that was not included at the time?

I think this is indeed an issue. I know that my parents clearly did not understand the implications of two aspects of their wills and that friends have also raised similar concerns regarding their parents wills. Key issues were only explained after the first death when the lack of understanding became clear. The comment of "if we had known that then we would have …" has arisen in several cases.

Most of these parents were of the generation who did not question people in authority - I think we may be a little different!

In all cases the wills were drawn up by solicitors, not will writers or diy jobs.

The biggest area of lack of understanding/clarity appears to be over the life interest issue and its implications particularly in regard to what happens if the surviving parent needs to move at some point.