House ownership after suicide

sinbad09

This one is a bit complicated but just wondering what the general rule of thumb would be with this so I can advise my friend when he feels ready to look into it.

He and his partner have been together for 10 years or so she already had a small house with the mortgage paid when they met. About 7 years ago  they decided to buy a larger house and she put the money from the sale of her house into the new property to cover 50% and then as far as im aware they had a joint mortgage for the other 50%. Wisely she had papers drawn up that in the event of a split she would retain at least the 50% equity she had put in initially. She also had in her will that she wished her 50% of the house to go to her son when she passed assuming this would be around 20-30 years from now when the house was paid and both her and my friend (her common law partner)  had passed.  

It came as a massive shock when she recently committed suicide and while my friend is initially just dealing with the emotional aftermath he is under the impression he will have to sell the house to pay her son (hes 19) his 50% share. The mortgage still has 20 years or so to run on the other 50%.  

So I can advise him when the time comes does anyone know how this would work, would her son have to force the sale of the house, can it be written into my friends will that 50% go to her son upon his death. I thought that in the absence of a will the equity transfers to the joint mortgage holder by default. But we don't know the small details of her will as yet. 

RAS

Hi, I wouldn't be advising your friend on anything without legal advice. 

The first thing to ascertain is who the executor of her will might be? It is that person with whom your friend needs to negotiate.

The other question is what the relationship is between your friend and the son? If the son has a good relationship and wants to stay in the house, short term arrangements might be different than if both your friend and the son want to leave ASAP?

At some stage both the executor and your friend need to get details of the current value, remaining mortgage and the agreement between the friend and his partner. Then take legal advice.

Meantime everyone is shocked, it's very raw, at some stage everyone will feel very angry, hopefully not at the same time, and hopefully they don't displace this onto each other. When they can your friend, the executor and her son need to discuss the funeral. Hopefully they can work together. 

sinbad09

His son lives with his dad and is quite severely autistic so any pressure to sell soon would come from his dad I would imagine. Yeah im not looking to offer him  any legal advice, I just wanted to say 'Well in this case this might happen and you should speak to a solicitor" kind of a thing. He's the sort just to take it all lying down assuming he has no rights to anything other than a small percentage of the equity.  We don't know any legal details at all as yet as it's so sudden and unexpected but I just have in the back of my mind that he has more rights than he thinks he has and when the time comes I want to him to at least realise that. 

swingaloo

He has a lot less rights than he would have had if they had been married. If the will leaves her half of the house to her son then it is likely that the house will need to be sold unless he has the means to buy the sons share. Sadly if he cant buy the son out he may only be entitled to some if the equity.

He cant have it written into his will that it will be left to the son as he doesnt own the house so its not his to leave. He needs to speak to the executor but tread carefully

elsien

I would also flag up that if the son is over 18 but lacks capacity around finances, that adds  an extra complication as someone would need to apply for financial deputyship in order to untangle some of this for him. 

sheramber

The joint mortgage doesn’t mean the house is owned jkintly

It sounds like the house was owned tenants in common  50/50. 

This can be checked on the title deeds. 

If it 50/50 then your friend owns 50%.
 

As said, if he afford it or get a mortgage for the half , he can buy the other half share from the son.

Marcon

sinbad09 said:

This one is a bit complicated but just wondering what the general rule of thumb would be with this so I can advise my friend when he feels ready to look into it.

He and his partner have been together for 10 years or so she already had a small house with the mortgage paid when they met. About 7 years ago  they decided to buy a larger house and she put the money from the sale of her house into the new property to cover 50% and then as far as im aware they had a joint mortgage for the other 50%. Wisely she had papers drawn up that in the event of a split she would retain at least the 50% equity she had put in initially. She also had in her will that she wished her 50% of the house to go to her son when she passed assuming this would be around 20-30 years from now when the house was paid and both her and my friend (her common law partner)  had passed.  

It came as a massive shock when she recently committed suicide and while my friend is initially just dealing with the emotional aftermath he is under the impression he will have to sell the house to pay her son (hes 19) his 50% share. The mortgage still has 20 years or so to run on the other 50%.  

So I can advise him when the time comes does anyone know how this would work, would her son have to force the sale of the house, can it be written into my friends will that 50% go to her son upon his death. I thought that in the absence of a will the equity transfers to the joint mortgage holder by default. But we don't know the small details of her will as yet. 

General rules of thumb aren't what's needed here; properly informed legal advice is. 

You aren't in any position to give advice, however supportive you want to be (which is wholly understandable in this horrible situation), other than offering to go with him to see a suitable legal adviser. You don't even know the facts, so making any sort of comment just isn't a good idea.

Flugelhorn

it sounds like the paperwork was written in an unfortunate manner - usually the surviving partner would have been given the right to stay in the property as long as needed (his death or the sale of the property) 

poseidon1

sinbad09 said:

His son lives with his dad and is quite severely autistic so any pressure to sell soon would come from his dad I would imagine. Yeah im not looking to offer him  any legal advice, I just wanted to say 'Well in this case this might happen and you should speak to a solicitor" kind of a thing. He's the sort just to take it all lying down assuming he has no rights to anything other than a small percentage of the equity.  We don't know any legal details at all as yet as it's so sudden and unexpected but I just have in the back of my mind that he has more rights than he thinks he has and when the time comes I want to him to at least realise that. 

If the son is severely autistic, the deceased partner if properly advised when drafting her will, would have left her share of the property in a Vulnerable Person 's trust for her son.

The only issue which your friend may soon discover,  is whether the trust takes immediate effect on her death, or whether she provided for a prior IPDI trust  ( of her share) for your friend so that the son's trust is delayed until your friend's death.

Whilst waiting to hear the precise contents of the deceased partner's will,  your friend would be best advised to get a valuation of the home ( it will be needed for probate) and explore to what extent he is able to buy out the equity share, if that need eventually arises.

Best he prepare himself for a possible worse case scenario, since trustees for the autistic son will be under a legal  duty to obtain an optimum financial outcome on his behalf ( they will have no choice in the matter).