Joint Tenants/Tenants in Common

squidley

Thank you both for your comments. They have been extremely helpful. You have made me realise big time that I've got to get to grips with this issue. I have been extremely neglectful in putting it off. 

Rightly or wrongly I am going to go with my gut feeling and move into our next house as join tenants. This will give my wife complete security. If I had to choose a priority then that would be it. I fully understand it's not legally binding but I am confident that if the worst come to the worst she would do the right thing. But I completely accept it has got to be made legit.

With regard to life interest wills how much, very roughly, are they likely to cost. Hundreds? Thousands? Are they relatively straightforward? Can they done by will writing firms or must it be a solicitor? Grateful for any advice. 

Keep_pedalling

It only requires a couple of fairly simple clauses in the will. The will would actually create the trust on your death

EssexHebridean

squidley said:

Thank you doodling. That is extremely helpful.

Yes, I did forget to mention the key fact in that I am happily married. 

Tenants in common plus will plus post death life interest seems the ideal solution. But, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I would rather just get the move finished now, and then all the wills and trusts sorted out afterwards. And I presume it is easy to change from joint tenants to TiC quite easily?

The Land Registry "default" if nothing is stipulated in the TR1 is that they will raise a requisition in the first instance asking how the property should be held, and giving a time limit for a response on that. Once that time limit expires, they will register as TiC. At the least, that gives you some time to sort things out a little more. 

doodling said:

Hi,

You don't say if you are married or if you have a will.

There are several options:

1. Joint tenants: Your partner gets the house if you die.  They can choose whether your offspring receive anything.

2. Tenants in common + Will: Your will says who gets your share of the house.  If it doesn't include a post death life interest for your partner then the beneficiaries could choose to force it to be sold (against your partners wishes) to get their money if they wanted.

3. Tenants in common + Married: Your partner gets the house if you die, they can choose whether your offspring receive anything.

4. Tenants in common + Not Married + No Will: Your offspring get your share of the house (as per laws of intestacy, the detail of which varies depending in which country in the union you are in).  They could choose to force it to be sold (against your partners wishes) to get their money if they wanted.

Personally I would hold it as tenants in common but that doesn't give your partner much protection if you aren’t married, or your offspring much protection if you are married but haven't made an appropriate will.

1 isn't quite accurate - if a property is held by two people as Joint Tenants both parties already own the whole property - there is no inheritance if one of the parties dies - because the other already owns the property in its entirety anyway.

EssexHebridean

OP - this link on the main site may be of help: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/free-cheap-wills/#:~:text=Free Wills Month happens every,ll leave something to charity.

squidley

Thank you for your very helpful responses. 

I have to give my ownership choice to our solicitor first thing tomorrow morning. Is it this choice that would be included in TR1? Incidentally what is TR1? 

Re the will. So I can just get a fairly basic will drawn up and include some simple clauses that will, in effect, create a life time trust. Presumably that will not cost thousands? Which is what I may have wrongly assumed. And thank you for the link. I will have a read. 

If it is initially owned as joint tenants, is it a quick and simple process to get it changed to TiC? 

Thanks.

Keep_pedalling

squidley said:

Thank you for your very helpful responses. 

I have to give my ownership choice to our solicitor first thing tomorrow morning. Is it this choice that would be included in TR1? Incidentally what is TR1? 

Re the will. So I can just get a fairly basic will drawn up and include some simple clauses that will, in effect, create a life time trust. Presumably that will not cost thousands? Which is what I may have wrongly assumed. And thank you for the link. I will have a read. 

If it is initially owned as joint tenants, is it a quick and simple process to get it changed to TiC? 

Thanks.

No it is a fairly standard will and will not cost thousands. Avoid the use of unregulated will writers and use a local solicitor.

Olinda99

If you buy it as joint tenants, it is a very (very) simple matter to notify the land registry at any time in the in the future that you want to cancel the joint tenancy in which case it will revert to TIC at 50-50  ownership.

squidley

Thank you both. That is reassuring to know. 

BungalowBel

We have been married for over 50 years, and only ever to each other.  We have one son.

Although the family home which we owned for almost forty years was held as joint tenants, when we bought our bungalow in 2015, we decided to hold it  it as  50-50 tenants in common.  

We then each made a will leaving our half to our son.  On the first death he inherits half in trust.  The surviving spouse can live there as long as they wish.  They cannot be forced to move.

On the second death, our son inherits the second half and the trust is wound up.

We did this so that he would inherit sooner rather than later (he hasn't got to wait for both parents to die).  It also has the added bonus that even if the surviving parent goes into care and the bungalow has to be sold, he will still get his half of the equity in cash, so will still get something, which he might not if property was owned solely by the surviving parent.

I personally would hold it as T-i-C (it doesn't have to be 50-50 if you don't want that).  Then you can each leave your share to whoever you wish.  Each child can be a beneficiary of their parent's share if that is what you want.

It didn't hold anything up when we did it, the solicitor did everything.

Hamlet22

You ALWAYS pick which one at the same time you do a will, as tenant in common means you are wanting it to pass under your will and not outright to your wife. if your conveyancers are a solicitor firm then they will have a wills team to advise you.