Tenants in Common and becoming Civil Partners

msb1234

I would advise that your son also has power of attorney for both of you should one of you die and the other lose capacity. 

TBagpuss

msb1234 said:

Coincidentally, I spoke to my solicitor yesterday about my mum’s will. She owned her house as TIC with my stepfather in 80/20 share. Her will left her share to her children with a right for him to live in the property til he dies. He’s now in care and the house needs to be sold so his share can be used towards his care home fees. 

He no longer has capacity so we’ve applied to the Court of Protection for Deputyship. Along with this, we’ve had to apply to appoint another trustee. 

According to the solicitor, under the terms of the will, both my stepfather and us as beneficiaries are automatically now trustees. We cannot therefore sell the property without the agreement of all the trustees. 

Or a court order. If any truiustee was unwilling to agree then as wilth any other joitly owned property an applciation can be made to the corut to force a sale. 

TBagpuss

Rogerrabbit777 said:

Apologies for bumping an old post but it fits with a question i have. Im currently planning on doing tenants in common with my spouse split 50/50. The sole beneficiary will be our son who lives in the property full time as his only home. The agreement is that on the first death the remaining spouse and son will live together in the house as norm until the the second death when the son will inherit the other 50% 

my question is do we need a life interest trust as the above is already agreed to between ourselves? Is It a legal requirement? Is the only consequence of not having a trust that the son inherits his 50% straight away? but what does this mean? Could he ask for the asset ie the house to be sold so he can gain his asset in cash even though the remaining spouse owns 50%? Or are there other consequences that mean a trust is necessary rather than us just having a standard will which states each of our % goes to our son. The cost of having a interest trust created is quite alot so im wondering if one is really necessary as its already something we have agreed apon

any opinions please

Talk to your solicitor - you presumably would not want a situation where your son could force a sale and reuqire the surving parent ot move out, and while I appreciate that at present e lives there and no doubt would have no plans to make you leave, situations can change and it's alsways sensible to consider wost case scenarios.