Marital home not in joint ownership

bob_a_builder

It has just come to light that my elderly in-laws house is only registered in my FILs name rather than as a Joint Ownership with MIL.

They were married at the time of the house purchase, so not clear why it was only done in one name

They have been married 65 years, .they have lived in house for some 53 years, no mortgage, and there are no family disputes to complicate things.

Checking on the .Gov site I can see there is a process to add a partner to the register.

But if that was not done, presumably the will would/could allow the house to pass to the survivor in the case of demise of the other

Or should we get it changed to Joint Ownership right away ?

davidmcn

I don't see it's a big deal - if either dies without making a Will then the other inherits anyway (or at least up to £250k of house before children are entitled to anything). Easy enough for them to make Wills though.

da_rule

Your FIL would have to transfer the property to himself and your MIL (as joint purchasers).

Your FIL could leave the property to your MIL in his will (and it would benefit from the spousal exemption for the purposes of inheritance tax).

You may also want to consider the possible consequences of any transfer with regards to care home fees etc. For example, if your FIL requires care the value of the house would be disregarded if your MIL lives there. If your MIL needs care then she doesn’t have an interest in the property. Therefore, depending on their respective fitness and the value of the house it may be more beneficial to leave the house to your FIL’s children with your MIL having a life interest.

00ec25

your FIL can leave the property to whoever he wants to and that is his affair, not yours.

65 years ago it would have been the norm for the man to own the property and neither he nor her would have had the slightest concern over it. My parents didn't. They made a will, and that was that.

bob_a_builder

It is only my concern by proxy, because them having just found this out, are now worried about the situation, and I'm try to find out how to put their minds at rest.

It was the council who alerted them to this fact, as part of an application for some funding for modifications to suit elderly living (even though it has no real bearing on that application), and it was that call that started them worrying about this being an issue

Interesting that it was the norm back then

Thanks all for the responses anyway

G_M

If he/they are worried, it's easy enough for him to transfer ownership into joint names.I'm sure you can assist/advise them.


If they already have wills leving their estates to each other (which would include the house), it's not necessay, unless it makes them feel better.

Keep_pedalling

If his total estate is over £250k then it is vital he has a will in place regardless of how the house is owned.