Spouse debt after death

Keep_pedalling

Mojisola said:

chillertwist209 said:

I’ve urged mum to get a will which states he is not to receive anything….I’m assuming that would override the usual laws or intestacy whereby spouse gets everything.

It's considered the norm for a spouse to leave their spouse provided for so he would be able to make a claim on her estate if she didn't leave him anything.

If the house was owned as TIC she could always leave her share to her children and give the disagreeable husband a life interest which would overcome that potential issue.

Spendless

Mojisola said:

Sarahspangles said:

My concern would be that creditors realise he’s unlikely to pay while he’s still alive, and move to secure debt against the house.

They would have to get signatures from both owners.

To keep a check, in case he tries to forge her signature, register for a property alert - it doesn't have to be an owner so you could do it.

www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert

Curiosity question (not specifically related to this thread) can anyone do this and the home owners are never told? I mean if I fancied doing it, can I essentially 'spy' on my neighbour's address? I can understand why people want to have that on their own property but what if it's not theirs, are they still allowed to do this?    

Mojisola

Spendless said:

Mojisola said:

To keep a check, in case he tries to forge her signature, register for a property alert - it doesn't have to be an owner so you could do it.

www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert

Curiosity question (not specifically related to this thread) can anyone do this and the home owners are never told? I mean if I fancied doing it, can I essentially 'spy' on my neighbour's address? I can understand why people want to have that on their own property but what if it's not theirs, are they still allowed to do this?    

Yes, you can set alerts on up to 10 properties.

thriftytwosome

I've set up alerts for my property and my SIL's property ( with her permission) after hearing stories of properties being stolen by criminals who managed to change details on the Land Registry. Just a precaution.

Flugelhorn

Spendless said:

Mojisola said:

Sarahspangles said:

My concern would be that creditors realise he’s unlikely to pay while he’s still alive, and move to secure debt against the house.

They would have to get signatures from both owners.

To keep a check, in case he tries to forge her signature, register for a property alert - it doesn't have to be an owner so you could do it.

www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert

Curiosity question (not specifically related to this thread) can anyone do this and the home owners are never told? I mean if I fancied doing it, can I essentially 'spy' on my neighbour's address? I can understand why people want to have that on their own property but what if it's not theirs, are they still allowed to do this?    

I have a few properties and have alerts for each of them + one that belongs to relative I feel is vulnerable, just want to be sure that no-one does anything untoward there 

They send an alert statement every 6 months even if nothing has happened - made me jump first time as wondered what was going on

Spendless

Thank you that's really helpful. I'm now considering setting up one that alerts me for the 2 properties my parents own (as well as ours). I think it would be helpful to keep an eye on them. Telling them I'm doing so  would probably worry them more that this is a possibility, rather than me just keeping a quiet eye. Further question though, at least one of the places I expect to be sold in the next few years, my Nan lives there and she's in her late 90s, at the point she goes my parents will sell. At that point there's no reason for me to have a property alert on the new buyers home, can I take off at that point?
  

Flugelhorn

yes you can edit / remove the alerts as needed, You can only have 10 (or something like that) so sometimes people need to change the ones they have listed. I have a couple of flats where there is a separate title for the freehold so that ends up being 2 to follow 

silvercar

The owner never even gets a message that someone is monitoring their property.

Gavin83

Keep_pedalling said:

Mojisola said:

chillertwist209 said:

I’ve urged mum to get a will which states he is not to receive anything….I’m assuming that would override the usual laws or intestacy whereby spouse gets everything.

It's considered the norm for a spouse to leave their spouse provided for so he would be able to make a claim on her estate if she didn't leave him anything.

If the house was owned as TIC she could always leave her share to her children and give the disagreeable husband a life interest which would overcome that potential issue.

But if you set it to TIC and he dies first it puts her in a much more difficult position.

The harsh truth of the matter is what home ownership method is best for the mum will depend on who dies first. If he dies first then it's better the house is joint ownership. If she dies first then it's better if it's TIC. Obviously you can't generally really predict death so this is essentially a gamble.