Distributing estate query

Helly18

When my mother died 1 of my siblings wanted to continue to live in the house which was held as tenants in common with my father who also owned his own house outright.  estate was distributed with my brother having my mother's share of the house and we took a higher share of cash assets . All amicable and solicitor did the relevant paperwork and the became joint owners.

My father died intestate last year with me and my 2 siblings the beneficiaries of the estate. I was granted letters of administration and have sorted the estate out and the sale of my father's house has just completed.  My father was very clear that everything was to be split 3 ways however the jointly owned property was registered as joint not tennants in common. My understanding is that due to this the house automatically passes to my brother and the rest of the estate is split between us 3. This is causing aggravation with one of my brothers as this is not an equal split and my brother is 70k better off than the remaining siblings. I want to act within the law but my question is can my other brother agree to splitting the cash assets so that the value of the estate is equal for each siblings.
Apols for the long post!

Keep_pedalling

Helly18 said:

When my mother died 1 of my siblings wanted to continue to live in the house which was held as tenants in common with my father who also owned his own house outright.  estate was distributed with my brother having my mother's share of the house and we took a higher share of cash assets . All amicable and solicitor did the relevant paperwork and the became joint owners.

My father died intestate last year with me and my 2 siblings the beneficiaries of the estate. I was granted letters of administration and have sorted the estate out and the sale of my father's house has just completed.  My father was very clear that everything was to be split 3 ways however the jointly owned property was registered as joint not tennants in common. My understanding is that due to this the house automatically passes to my brother and the rest of the estate is split between us 3. This is causing aggravation with one of my brothers as this is not an equal split and my brother is 70k better off than the remaining siblings. I want to act within the law but my question is can my other brother agree to splitting the cash assets so that the value of the estate is equal for each siblings.
Apols for the long post!

Yes if the sibling gaining the house as the surviving joint tenant makes a deed of variation reducing the amount of the heritable estate he is entitled to from the will. 

Helly18

Keep_pedalling said:

Helly18 said:

When my mother died 1 of my siblings wanted to continue to live in the house which was held as tenants in common with my father who also owned his own house outright.  estate was distributed with my brother having my mother's share of the house and we took a higher share of cash assets . All amicable and solicitor did the relevant paperwork and the became joint owners.

My father died intestate last year with me and my 2 siblings the beneficiaries of the estate. I was granted letters of administration and have sorted the estate out and the sale of my father's house has just completed.  My father was very clear that everything was to be split 3 ways however the jointly owned property was registered as joint not tennants in common. My understanding is that due to this the house automatically passes to my brother and the rest of the estate is split between us 3. This is causing aggravation with one of my brothers as this is not an equal split and my brother is 70k better off than the remaining siblings. I want to act within the law but my question is can my other brother agree to splitting the cash assets so that the value of the estate is equal for each siblings.
Apols for the long post!

Yes if the sibling gaining the house as the surviving joint tenant makes a deed of variation reducing the amount of the heritable estate he is entitled to from the will. 

Thanks for replying the issue is there was no will so does this still apply?

poseidon1

Helly18 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Helly18 said:

When my mother died 1 of my siblings wanted to continue to live in the house which was held as tenants in common with my father who also owned his own house outright.  estate was distributed with my brother having my mother's share of the house and we took a higher share of cash assets . All amicable and solicitor did the relevant paperwork and the became joint owners.

My father died intestate last year with me and my 2 siblings the beneficiaries of the estate. I was granted letters of administration and have sorted the estate out and the sale of my father's house has just completed.  My father was very clear that everything was to be split 3 ways however the jointly owned property was registered as joint not tennants in common. My understanding is that due to this the house automatically passes to my brother and the rest of the estate is split between us 3. This is causing aggravation with one of my brothers as this is not an equal split and my brother is 70k better off than the remaining siblings. I want to act within the law but my question is can my other brother agree to splitting the cash assets so that the value of the estate is equal for each siblings.
Apols for the long post!

Yes if the sibling gaining the house as the surviving joint tenant makes a deed of variation reducing the amount of the heritable estate he is entitled to from the will. 

Thanks for replying the issue is there was no will so does this still apply?

Yes an intestate estate can similarly be varied as indicated by @Keep_pedalling.

 A decent STEP qualified lawyer should be able to draft what is necessary to achieve  equality, assuming all siblings are in agreement.

Helly18

Thank you so much