another thread about "wills" sorry but I think its important!

meant to say...the wording in the Land Registry is very important

Beneficial Tenants or being Tenants in Common is an important piece of wording so far as I can gather where Wills are concerned.
As personally I cannot afford a solicitor I have to do my research on the net so therefore I do not know how accurate it is. But thought I would mention it anyway seeing as though the subject of will crops up now and then. hope I haven't waffled on too much!

It is indeed an important distinction, biker. Most couples, married or not, buy a house together as 'beneficial joint tenants' and the option to buy as 'tenants in common' should have been explained by their solicitor at the time of purchase.

It would usually be suggested if, for example, both or either partners had children from a previous relationship and might wish to leave their half to their own child/ren should both house-buyers die in a plan crash.
That wouldn't be possible if they owned the property as 'beneficial joint tenants'.

Yes that's right Ana Im glad some else knows what I am talking about lol.. I must say I did rush to check my Land Reg Documents, as dh had been married before and had children although I always knew where I stood,, but got a bit panicky until I read the Land Reg as I had no idea what the wording on it was!

Yes, I have heard of that although I didn't know about the limit of £250,000, although I suppose if you have mirror wills leaving everything to each other it makes no difference if the house is worth more.

I did hear of one gentleman (for want of a better word) who was going round at his wife's funeral saying that all the ladies would be after him now, with his nice house. What he hadn't realised was that they were tenants in common and his deceased wife had left her half of the house to their children.

lol rose

Without going into a lot of detail this is also important in the case of one or other spouse going into care and being self funding.Although a spouse can't be forced to leave the house I am told that if the property is held as tenants in common,if the spouse still in the property dies first he/she would have been able to will her/his half to family but if joint tenants the whole value would be used to pay care fees. Again I am no expert but I have been told this by someone who has been in this situation.

annsixty yes I did start to read something about that , then I went off on another line, but I must get more info on that, as it stands now that I am the one that is left I need to sort something out as of course I would like to leave some inheritance for dds, I suppose it does mean a trip to the solicitors to verify things, but they are so expensive!

biker, you can get half an hour's free advice at most solicitors. If you have all your questions ready, and make sure the appointment you get is with someone with specialised knowledge, it's do-able on the cheap!

Ana thanks for that

We went to the solicitor and changed ours to tenants in common so that if one of us ends up going into care the other doesn't lose the house.
This was after a neighbour's wife had a brain tumour and had to go into a nursing home- he had huge bills to pay and explained it to us.

Leticia I don't think that making home ownership as tenants in common makes any difference to paying for care,I think all care fees must be paid until most of ones savings are gone, but it does mean the half of the house owned by the spouse still in the house is protected.

Leticia I was also under that impression but not having finished reading into it I really don't know.

annsixty it is something I am going to look into, as reading your post maybe it isn't as cut and dried as we all think..I suppose this is why sometimes people/spouses/children don't end up with the things we have willed to them.. it does need re searching and I suppose the only place to go is the solicitors..I would like to see the out come in black and white as to what happens in a situation like that..lets face it ,it will effect us all.

It all made sense at the solicitors- the best thing is to get advice. CAB a good place to start.

My DH and I made Mirror Wills when we were in our 40s. So glad that I did because when he passed away it was all very straightforward.

You have to make it clear that you leave everything to your spouse even if you have a joint mortgage. I didn't know until recently that unless you make this clear in the will - adult children are entitled to the dead parent's half of the house.

The Solicitor's fee wasn't huge. I can't remember exactly how much now but it certainly wasn't a massive amount of money.

Morning Falconbird yes its not as simple as everyone thinks is it..I heave read , googled n googled, in fact waiting for a solicitor to hopefully ring this morning for some free advice..I have read that if the estate is under £250,00 that if the house was in joint names (Beneficial Tenants) and there is no will...then the house by law passes to the surviving spouse. I am not too bothered if the other half had to go to the DDs as they would hopefully have a share anyway, not sure if still having a mortgage changes things, you read one thing then you read another that contradicts what you have already read, but when I know and hear it from the horses mouth then I will update. I found this info on the "Gov. website" which I presume is upto date. Once I have it sorted then I intend to make a will myself. bfn take care.

It's the care side that bothers me. Aound here dementia care is around £1100 per week. It does take long to eat up what seems to be a reasonable inheritance. At least with tenants in common the kids would get half a house.

The down side is that there may be complications if an offspring predeceases. Also the deceased's half of the house goes into a trust with the beneficiaries as trustees which brings up the yearly trustee meeting etc. This may be a problem if they don't get along.

Yes it is complicated. I had to make another will after DH passed away appointing executors for my estate. I may have to change it again. You certainly have to keep your wits about you - not easy when you're an OAP.

You can have 15 mins free advice from a solicitor. My son had some last week and was pleased with the advice.

My mother in law is in a home and has dementia. She has a house on the market at the moment. There was a meeting last Friday to see if she should have 100% funding, so hopefully that will be okay.
The last time I went to see her, she thought I was her dead sister and was reciting childhood rhymes at me when she wasn't nodding off. Will not be going to see her today, though, as there is rather a lot of snow outside.