Will/children/Joint tenants or Tenants in Common

castle96

Hi,
Son A and partner (unmarried) B have finally got around to looking at a Will. Two sons together D and E. Have a house together as Joint Tenants. Son A also has two rental properties in sole name.

Initially they looked at the simple mirror will route, then each has raised the scenario that if one of them dies.... the other remarries .. has further children with new partner .. and/or new partner has existing children, etc. Each wants to protect D and E interest

1. How do they do this within the Will (will not be doing a DiY job)

2. Do they need to convert joint house to Tenants in Common? Is this something that they can do themselves/Land Registry/Building Society (£ for this?) or must a solicitor do it?

Any advice please (free will being done by in-house NHS solicitor, but they are talking about charging for anything 'complicated')

getmore4less

unmarried

That's the sticking point as there are no transferable nil rate bands 

that causes tax issues with life interest trusts

These are a common way to protect assets like houses for kids while allowing a spouse to benefit during their life time.

pphillips

If son A plans to get married at anytime in the future then after the wedding would be the best time to get the wills written. If son A is never going to get married then he might want to think about whether lifetime gifts for some of his assets above the nil rate band would be appropriate.

castle96

not really asking about IHT/NRB, but my Q's 1 and 2 please

pphillips

castle96 said:

not really asking about IHT/NRB, but my Q's 1 and 2 please

Q1. By leaving each other a life interest 
Q2. Yes, otherwise the jointly owned property will pass outside the will. He can do this by serving his partner a notice of severance and notifying Land Registry. I think there is still a Land Registry forum if you need further guidance on this.

getmore4less

I answered question 1.  You use a life interest,
There are other option but a lot more complicated and do not solve all the issues, even life interests have drawbacks
to do that you need to be tenants in common and that can be done by just one notifying the other the joint tenancy has been severed(land reg is optional but recommended).
Still has to be done with IHT considerations as the rules are VERY different for married/civil partners than 2 random people.

Keep_pedalling

pphillips said:

If son A plans to get married at anytime in the future then after the wedding would be the best time to get the wills written. If son A is never going to get married then he might want to think about whether lifetime gifts for some of his assets above the nil rate band would be appropriate.

Never a good idea to put of making a will, you can make one in contemplation of marriage, just in case you snuff it on your honeymoon.

castle96

OK... Life Interest...
scenario... A or B dies.. house worth £200k ..50% each. A or B then wants to move later.. house sold for £300k. Is the £150k interest of A or B then simply 'transferred' to the new house of say £500k ? (what about if they downsided to say £200k ?

castle96

In either of above scenarios, A or B then had a new partner who they bought the new house jointly with, what then ?

AnotherJoe

All those sort of complications are why me and MrsAJ decided to cancel such an arrangement we we did have with life interests etc, and redo simple wills,  leaving all to the other ( and kids if we both died in a dual bungee jump)

And we trusted each other to do the right thing should we ever get remarried (which would be a long stretch)

Also meant that we wouldnt be subject to the kids saying "no you cant buy that retirement flat", or "that bungalow because its too far way"or whatever.

castle96

"trust"... yes a wonderful thing, but new circumstances take over. Any views please