House and Wills

[Silkythrow]

My dad passed away recently and per his will his house passed to my sister and I, with his partner having life interest to remain. Probate has been granted and I’m organising the land registry transfer, we’ll hold the house as joint tenants. If one of us pre-deceases dad’s partner, we would want to either have the house to have to be sold and the 50% of the deceased sister to be dealt with as per her will, or if the living sister wanted to keep the house, buy out the deceased sister’s beneficiary (and vice versa). Are our wills the vehicle to reflect this with the transfer document just reflecting the joint tenancy and 50/50 split? Is this a stipulation that can be enforced one the death of one sister?

There’s no dispute here, we are in agreement so our respective families interests are protected formally.

If the step mother has life interest then you can’t sell it from under her. Yes, the other could buy the remainder out.

It sounds a reasonable agreement between you & your sister, and as the house is an asset of yours (both) it would make sense to reference it in your wills. But isn't the difficult bit going to be selling upon your / your sister's death (if you can't buy out the other's beneficiaries) when your dad's partner has life interest? I.e. if you were looking to sell before she dies?

I'd be taking legal advice on exactly the terms of her "life interest" i.e. whether that takes precedence irrespective of how many changes in ownership the house goes through. What happens - not wishing any bad times here - you die, your sister buys out your beneficiaries, your sister then owns 100% and she dies leaving all her estate to the cat & dog home (or a friend or random other family member). They can't realise the value of their legacy until dad's partner then dies??

yes, sorry. What I meant was how the house is dealt with after my step mum passes, if either my sister or I have already passed.

It’s accepted the value of the asset won’t be realised till dad’s partner has passed. She is in her 80’s. We just want to have the agreement we’ve reached formally documented so that the house is either sold on her passing, or one buys the other out (or our beneficiaries if one of us has passed).

My understanding is that under joint tenancy, if you or your sister passed away, the whole house would be owned by the surviving sister. It's tenants in common that you would need if you want to split the house 50:50 and leave your share to someone other than your sister.

Was thinking this as well.

Ah thank you - yes we’d be tenants in common in that case. Obviously we’ll get legal advice but I just wanted to understand if the place to document this and it be legally binding was our wills.