Advice needed please, re. marital home

angelinamay

Good morning, 
If this is the incorrect room to post this, please place elsewhere. 

I left the marital home which I jointly own (outright) with my husband. This was 8 years ago.  I then purchased a much smaller property that I own outright.

Someone recently pointed out to me that my husband has the right to take the half ownership that I have as I've not lived there for at least 7 years.  Is this correct please?  

IF he dies before me, does he have the power to stop me from living in the house in that event? If for example, he stipulates it in his will?  Both of us wish the property to be divided equally between the 2 grandchildren anyway, when we die. 

Thank you for your time, 

tacticalbanjo

If your name is on the deeds I don't think your husband can take that away from you without a court order for example in case of a divorce. He can will his share to someone else if he converts the ownership to tenants in common but that shouldn't affect your rights to live in the property since you will still be a joint owner. The other joint owner could take you to court to force a sale if they particularly wanted to waste a lot of money.

angelinamay

Tacticalbanjo, thanks so much for replying.  Indeed my name is on the deeds.  We don't intend on divorce.  I seem to recall I phoned the Land Registry some years back, and asked about our ownership.  She mentioned that I own 100% and my husband also 100%.  This I think is Joint tenants rather than Tenants in common?  Could someone clarify this for me please? 

Also, the small property I own outright and live with my partner in - IF I die before husband, does HE have the power to take that property? 

unforeseen

If you haven't made a will leaving it to your partner then intestacy rules kick in and it will go to your husband, or children if he pre-deceases you. 

tacpot12

Joint tenants is sometimes described as owning 100% of the property with someone also owning 100% of the property, so I would expect that you are Joint Tenants. (The alternative is tenants-in-common where each of you own a set percentage that must be less than 100%.) 

If you are joint tenants, then he can't do anything in his will to stop you occupying your former home as the home becomes yours entirely on his death - it doesn't pass into his estate so his will has no effect on the matter. 

Given that you both want to pass the property to your grandchildren, you can both include something in your will to the effect that you are leaving any share of the property that you own outright to the grandchildren. For the first person to die this will have no effect as they don't own any share of the property outright, for the second to die means the the property passes to the grandchildren. But wills can be changed. If you were to die first, he could, in theory, change his will and leave it all to the cat's home!

Changing the basis of ownership to Tenants-in-Common would allow you to leave your half to the grandchildren and you could give him the right to live in the property, so the grandchildren would be guaranteed to get half. You shouldn't try to draft or amend your wills yourself. I would recommend you do this through a solicitor.  

It would be worth getting hold of the Title Deeds for the property (they cost £3 from the Land Registry. You will need to google how to determine whether you are in fact Joint Tenants or Tenants in Common. 

It would also be worth putting an alert on the property in case your husband did try to sell the property without telling you. It is also worthwhile for other reasons as it can prevent other forms of fraud that can occur. Have a look here: HM Land Registry - Property Alert 

angelinamay

unforeseen said:

If you haven't made a will leaving it to your partner then intestacy rules kick in and it will go to your husband, or children if he pre-deceases you. 

Thank you for your reply.  I have made a will, and stipulated the property my husband is living (Marital property) is left to the 2 grandchildren.  The small property I live in, I've stipulated partner has the right to live in that property but  if in agreement, the property is sold and the proceeds split 3 ways between 2 sons and partner. 

angelinamay

unforeseen said:

'If you haven't made a will leaving it to your partner'

Another possibility would be if I add my partners name to the deeds of the smaller property, he would have the right to live there regardless, is that correct? 

TBagpuss

If you own the marital home as joint tenants then it passes to your husband on your death regardless of what you put in your will. 

If you sever the joint tenancy (by a simple notice to him) you then own as tenants in common and can leave your interest to the grandchildren.
if you have not divorced and don’t plan to I would recommend that you and your husband consider a Separation Agreement to set out the financial arrangements between you. It’s not legally enforceable but does give strong evidence of your joint intentions and could offer some protection if needed - for instance if he were  to make a claim against your estate if you died first, or if he lost capacity and there was a dispute over what assets were available to him.

 If you do not want to divorce you could consider Judicial Separation- this lets you have a formal, legally binding financial settlement while not officially divorcing.

You can leave your house to your partner. If you add them to the deeds then yes, depending on whether you set it up as joint tenants or tenants in common they would be able to keep the whole property or to have an interest in it, and you can give them the right to occupy it for their lifetime even if long term you want it to go to someone else. Be aware that if you add them to the deeds they would share ownership of the property and they would be entitled to their share if the two of you were to separate.

 I would suggest that you think about what you want to achieve then talk to a solicitor about making a will, and about whether a separation agreement and/or any change to your deeds is appropriate.

angelinamay

TBagpuss said:

If you own the marital home as joint tenants then it passes to your husband on your death regardless of what you put in your will. 

Thanks so much for replying TBagpuss.  I seem to recall reading/hearing something about a 'seven year rule', IF living away from a joint owned (or tenants in common?) property that the person still living in the property has the right to own it outright? 

I have made a will, but the small house I own (outright) I have stipulated partner continues living here should I die first. I was concerned that my husband (still in the marital home) would automatically own the small house on my death. 

swingaloo2

I may be wrong here and I'm happy to be corrected but as you are married and do not intend to divorce do both houses  not become part of the 'marital pot' therefore giving your husband a share in the property you live in now.

tacticalbanjo

swingaloo2 said:

I may be wrong here and I'm happy to be corrected but as you are married and do not intend to divorce do both houses  not become part of the 'marital pot' therefore giving your husband a share in the property you live in now.

No. But depending on total distribution of assets and a bunch of other stuff, the husband might have a claim on some equity in event of a divorce. But that would have to come as a result of a financial settlement between the two parties.

One thing the OP might want to think about is if she dies first and then her husband can will the property away from the grandchildren. This sort of thing happens all the time upon remarriage even if the parties don't think it is a possibility. If she converts the ownership to tenants in common then she can be sure that her share goes directly to the grandchildren with provision for the husband to live in the house until his death.