Joint tenants or TinC, re care home fees?

You need legal advice.
In order to save on inheritance tax, we became tenants in common with each half of the value in trust. Sadly, we did not change it when the inheritance tax laws were relaxed. My husband died last year and it has taken a year to sort out because my step-daughter would not sign off her part of the trust until I had paid her off, even though I had I had made a new will leaving everything split between her and my own daughter. Had we been joint owners, the whole value would have automatically come to me on his death.

There are ways you can protect your part of the property for your son in the event of your husband remarrying but. You really do need a solicitor to sort that out for you.

With tenants in common one member of a couple can pass on their share of the home on death, say to their children, while the other member of the couple can continue to live there, passing on their half on death.

Tenants in common can also prevent you having to sell your home if you need to go into long-term care.

The operative word in each of the above is the word can . In the first case it has to be made clear, such as written into the will that the surviving party can remain in the property until they die, should they so wish.

In the second case this is still legally 'untested' (my solicitor's phraseology) and it could be tested in law any time soon.

We have wills stipulating TiC . Our solicitor thought it an excellent idea and has done it many times for clients .

Talk to your solicitor. Joint tenancy if you want everything left to you should your DH die first and visa versa.

Talk to a solicitor. It can be done quite simply, but you need good legal advice. Remember lawyers make a lot of money from wills badly made by people who didn't think they needed/ wouldnt spend the money on a good solicitor.

Here we go again - when, as a society, are we going to deal with the issue of paying for social care fairly? It's nonsense isn't it that this loophole ( legal as it is) exists? So if a couple are TinC, and each leave their half to eg their dd then after the death of the first one, the second one goes into care, only their half will be taken into account for care home fees? So why doesn't everyone do this? Could the dd( who might not be so d) force the sale of the house to get her share? What if the value of the share left didn't cover good enough care for long enough? Would dd say, never mind DM/F you can have my share back so that you will be cared for properly in a home of your choosing?

Thanks all. I'll ask the solicitor's advice.