Inheritance question

Petch43

I was hoping if somebody could advise what the likely outcome of the below is.

My mum and her partner were never married, although they were together over 30 years. My mum had 2 children from a previous marriage (my sister and myself) and her partner had 4 children from a previous marriage.

Several years ago, my mum and her partner purchased a property together (as joint tenants I believe).

My mums partner died in 2020. He didn’t have a will.
Since he died, my mum hasn’t done anything regarding the title of the property (she hasnt removed his name).

My mum refuses to make a will, but says when the time comes, she expects the following to happen ( which she agreed with her partner before his death) as she thinks this is the ‘default’ scenario:

50% of the property to be inherited by my sister and myself
50% of the property to be inherited between her deceased partner’s 4 children.

I told her this is unlikely to be the case without a will (but perhaps I am wrong). Can anybody advise what is likely to happen in this scenario if she doesn’t make a will expressing her wishes?

Thanks.

Keep_pedalling

Unfortunately many unmarried couples fail to make wills leaving a total mess behind them.

Regardless of the fact that your mother has never made any changes to the LR, she is now the sole owner of the property so if she dies intestate her partners children will get nothing. If she want her partners children to inherit something then she must make a will, not to do so is just plain idiotic.

Marcon

Petch43 said:

I was hoping if somebody could advise what the likely outcome of the below is.

My mum and her partner were never married, although they were together over 30 years. My mum had 2 children from a previous marriage (my sister and myself) and her partner had 4 children from a previous marriage.

Several years ago, my mum and her partner purchased a property together (as joint tenants I believe).

My mums partner died in 2020. He didn’t have a will.
Since he died, my mum hasn’t done anything regarding the title of the property (she hasnt removed his name).

My mum refuses to make a will, but says when the time comes, she expects the following to happen ( which she agreed with her partner before his death) as she thinks this is the ‘default’ scenario:

50% of the property to be inherited by my sister and myself
50% of the property to be inherited between her deceased partner’s 4 children.

I told her this is unlikely to be the case without a will (but perhaps I am wrong). Can anybody advise what is likely to happen in this scenario if she doesn’t make a will expressing her wishes?

Thanks.

Point her to this https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will and suggest she works through it to see if her expectation is borne out (it isn't).

RAS

You need to confirm whether it was a joint tenancy or tenants in common. Costs £3 to download the deeds from the Land Registry, assuming England or Wales.

NannaH

Joint tenants means she owns the house in full and you + your sister inherit everything under the Intestacy rules.

If it was TiC then his children should have inherited his half under the same rules and could make a legal claim now if they chose to.

BUT, even with Intestacy,  a deed of variation CAN be made with the agreement of all beneficiaries so you and your Sister could give up half for your Step siblings,  the question is - would it happen?   Money makes people behave in odd ways. 

Get the ownership details from the LR to be sure.
Your Mum needs to sort this. 

RAS

NannaH said:

BUT, even with Intestacy,  a deed of variation CAN be made with the agreement of all beneficiaries so you and your Sister could give up half for your Step siblings, .......:

Get the ownership details from the LR to be sure.
Your Mum needs to sort this. 

In principle. The problem might be:

Either of the mother's children being in an insolvency arrangement, as the inheritance needs to be declared and used to pay creditors and fees.
Either of the mother's children being in receipt of benefits (or care) which are means tested, or have limits on allowed savings.

TBagpuss

As others have said, if you are right in thinking that they owned the house as Joint Tenants, she now owns it all and if she doesn't make a will, it will pass to you and your sister in equal shares on her death and her partners children will not be entitled to anything.

If they owned it as tenants in common then his children are already entitled to his half.

Provided that neither you or your sister are, at the time of your mum's death bankrupt, in an IVA, or in receipt of benefits, the two of you could do a deed of variation following your mum's death in order t implement her wishes, and pass half of the house value over to her partner's children. However, both of you would need to agree and if either of you was in any of the situations above you would not be able (or would be unable without risking losing benefits) to transfer 'their' half - equally. if either of you were divorcing it might be difficult.

Most solicitors dealing with wills and probate are able to offer home visits if your mum needs one or would be more comfortable seeing someone in her own home - as a beneficiary you couldn't be present when she talked to the solicitor but could make the arrangements for someone to meet with her / give her a lift to the solicitors offices / suggest she has a friend with her for moral support.

obviously you can't force her to make a will but can explain to her that her assumption isn't correct and so if she wants to honour her late partner's wishes she needs to make a will.

The only alternative I can think of would be if she transferred half of the property to them now with a trust in place to allow her to continue to live in the house in her lifetime. However, this is likely to be a lot more complicated than making a will, it would make it difficult if she ever wanted to move and would mean that her partners children would have CGT to pay when the property was sold - she'd definitely need professional advice, but it is another option if she is dead set against making a will, but wants to ensure that they get their dad's share in the end.