Changing from Joint Tenancy to Tenants in Common

CosmicWasher

Assume we can do this without cost of going thru' a solicitor/conveyancer. 

Being done in advance of doing our wills so if either of us ever need to go into care when the other one dies, they can only take up to 50% of property in care fees, leaving remainder to our respective beneficiaries.  We're both still fit and healthy

The_Unready

Excellent  - just get the care home to send the bill directly to me to cut out the middle- man (local council).

Olinda99

yes you just need to notify the land registry the joint tenancy is severed

Keep_pedalling

You need to complete form SEV.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/64e8561adb1c07001422b422/SEV__2023-08-29_.pdf

Whatever you do don’t penny pinch on your wills get them done by a solicitor to make sure all the what if situations that you have not thought about are covered. Your wills should both have a clause that gives the surviving spouse a life interest in the other share (immediate post death interest trust). This protects their security and avoids a CGT liability for your beneficiaries.

While you are getting your affairs in order don’t forget lasting powers of attorney, loss of mental capacity can cause you loved ones a lot of difficulty if you don’t have them in place, especially for finance,

Keep_pedalling

The_Unready said:

Excellent  - just get the care home to send the bill directly to me to cut out the middle- man (HRMC).

What is being done here is not dodging care fees but allowing the OP and their other half to leave their half of their home to whoever they wish rather than letting pass by survivorship. None of the house can be used for care fees while one of them is living there and in reality unless the house is of low value it is unlikely that all of it would be used up on care costs unless both of them need residential care at the same time, and severing the tenancy does not change that.

There are other reasons why this is a good idea for the OP, the first being that each of them have different beneficiaries they wish to leave there estate too which would not work as JT, the second is to protect their beneficiaries in the event of the remarriage of the surviving spouse.

 I have rather assumed that we are talking about a married couple here, but if they are not married or civil partners there are tax implications they need to be aware of.

The_Unready

Ah, my mistake  - I obviously misinterpreted the comment ".....they can only take up to 50% of property in care fees, leaving remainder to our respective beneficiaries". 😉

EssexHebridean

CosmicWasher said:

Assume we can do this without cost of going thru' a solicitor/conveyancer. 

Being done in advance of doing our wills so if either of us ever need to go into care when the other one dies, they can only take up to 50% of property in care fees, leaving remainder to our respective beneficiaries.  We're both still fit and healthy

I think the BIB also makes fairly clear what is intended here. It would appear that what we have is a situation where one party is already deceased, and the surviving party then requires to go into care - the OP is seemingly trying to engineer a situation where the remaining 50% of the property will be removed from the calculations for contributions to care. 

SarahB16

Is your home mortgage free?  

Albermarle

EssexHebridean said:

CosmicWasher said:

Assume we can do this without cost of going thru' a solicitor/conveyancer. 

Being done in advance of doing our wills so if either of us ever need to go into care when the other one dies, they can only take up to 50% of property in care fees, leaving remainder to our respective beneficiaries.  We're both still fit and healthy

I think the BIB also makes fairly clear what is intended here. It would appear that what we have is a situation where one party is already deceased, and the surviving party then requires to go into care - the OP is seemingly trying to engineer a situation where the remaining 50% of the property will be removed from the calculations for contributions to care. 

One problem can be if the care stay is a longer one and as only 50% of the homes value can be utilised, then they will then have to rely on council funded care.
This might well mean a move from a nice care home to a different not so nice one, which would be an unwelcome and possibly traumatic move.

EssexHebridean

Yes - we had this issue when my Great Aunt was in a care home and her money was beginning to approach running out. It wasn't going to be possible for any of the family to top up, and we were faced with the very real possibility that she could be moved to somewhere miles away where it would be very difficult for family and her friends to visit. Mercifully, she died before this became a problem in the event. Not a situation I would ever want to see a loved one in again - although it was probably harder on us than on her in the event, as she was oblivious to the possibility. It was incredibly worrying for my Mum and her cousin, though. 

CosmicWasher

Thanks for all the comments - a bit of context behind the original question...

We're married.  We don't have any children between us.  We came into marriage late, so we had our own money/assets  previously but we are happy to split everything 50:50.  Neither of us are making anything off the other anyway.  It's always been broadly equal.  

We both have different ideas of who our beneficiaries should be so we've agreed that to safeguard where our respective 50% share goes, we would split the house (which is owned outright) from Joint Tenancy to Tenants in Common, so we can ensure that money goes where we each want it to without the risk that if either of us end up in care once the other passes, the others share is protected for their own beneficiaries.  

It's not about avoiding care costs thanks @The_Unready.  It's about being being fair on how when one of us dies, the other isn't still responsible for the other ones care fees if that comes to pass. The marriage vows are 'till death us do part', not 'till death us do part and carry on paying for the other using the money that was meant for somebody else'.

Thanks @Keep_pedalling for your helpful comments.