Tenants in common rights to keep family home

[Deleted User]

My partner of 5 years recently died in an accident.

We bought a house together a year ago and foolishly hadn’t done wills.

Our home was purchased with a joint mortgage, tenants in common and the equity in it is 60% mine and 40% his.

My partner has left somewhere in the region of around 500-600k in his estate with combined various pensions, life policies and savings.

His only child to a previous relationship will likely be the beneficiary of all this as we hadn’t realised we had to register a civil partnership to make it legal.
This is fine as I’m happy for his son (aged 21 and lives elsewhere in the country) to have it all so long as we can stay in our home.

What rights do I have to keep my home?
It is just me and my daughter (aged 15 from a previous relationship) living here now but I would really like to stay here.

Can my deceased partners son make me sell my home?
Can I request to live here until I pass away (I’m 45) and my deceased partners son be placed as a beneficiary to claim his father’s percentage at that time?

Any information would be appreciated as I’m worried I will end up having to move.

david29dpo

Sorry but yes he can claim what is due to him.

Olinda99

It looks like his son will be entitled to his 40% share. He may be ameniable to you paying 40% of market rent and you continue to.live there but equally he may not want to be a landlord.

Emmia

I'm sorry for your loss, but I think you should prepare yourself to need to sell and move. 

Did you have any joint accounts with your partner, or were his savings held solely in his name.

jackieblack

Depending on the value of the equity, are you in a position to offer to buy the 40% from the estate/son?

bobster2

Sorry you're in this position.

I think a significant factor here is going to be the mortgage and how much equity there is? Did your partner have a life insurance policy that pays out to you in trust to pay off the mortgage?

Keep_pedalling

This is complicated by the fact that unless he had life insurance to cover the mortgage you are now solely responsable for paying it but you only own 60% of the property. There is also the possibility that unless he was a widower inheritance tax may be an issue.

One possible option would be for his son to make a deed of variation to give you a life interest in your share, but that has negative implication for inheritance tax as the residential NRB would be lost.

Did he make an expression of wishes with any of his pensions in your favour? If he did, did this include current employment that may have death in service benefits?

Did he have insurance in place to pay off the mortgage?

Had he ever been widowed?

What is the value of the house and the amount of outstanding mortgage?

If your £500-600k estimate includes his pensions can you give a value excluding the pensions which will fall outside his estate. 

Sorry for all the questions, but it is hard to advise without having a full picture of the situation. 

mattojgb

Son would have to go court to if he wanted to force you to sell. Currently you are in a strong position to avoid a court forcing you to sell as your daughter is a minor and you are the majority owner. A court could however force you to pay rent.

This presupposes you can afford to stay put and whether it makes financial sense (you could be paying mortgage for son's share - although that might be taken into account at court in lieu of rent referred to above).

WYSPECIAL

Where did you live before you bought this house together?
If you can't afford to buy the son out of his 40% equity will your 60% share plus your mortgage raising capacity be enough to buy a suitable house for you and your daughter to live in?

Blue_Butterfly

You may be able to make a claim under the Inheritance Act 1975 if you have lived together for 2 years, or were financially dependent on your deceased partner.