What to do with house-inheritance?

[Inheritancequery1]

I’m buying a house with my DP. I have dc from a previous relationship. On my death they will receive practically 800k in insurance policies and death in service. So this leaves the question…do I buy the house as joint tenants or tenants in common? I’m so torn 😅 help

This is the kind of adulting that makes my face hurt! I still need to finish writing everything down! It’s hard work!

It’s so hard! 🤣🤣 I can’t wait to meet the solicitor so they can just help me 😅

Surely most people have similar death in service.

10 x salary? Defo not the norm!

You still need to put your kids first. Talk to a solicitor. There are things you can do like leave it tot our kids with lifetime trust that allows him to continue living there unless he sells. Otherwise there’s a danger it all goes on his care fees in old age.

Get legal advice and protect your half
for your children who should and need to be your priority

If Tenants in Common, the surviving spouse can remain in the house until death )and remarriage???). What happens if that person wants to sell up and move. Are the funds released to the children at that point or not until their death?

Of course they are my priority. The stand to inherit at least 150k each regardless! That’s a lot more than most! If I die right now they get 400k each regardless in trust to their dad (who they will also inherit from) and they will have plenty. They are my priority. I also now need to make a decision that suits all eventualities. It’s a hard decision because I want everyone looked after.

I think it’s until death or sale of property

Re: Trusts.

I think clauses can be tweaked/added to include the ability to downsize. This kind of thing is then at the Trustees discretion. I assume you can make a proportional cash payment to the eventual beneficiaries at that point.
You can have a clause to dissolve the trust upon marriage/cohabiting.
It can be quite closely tailored as required.

Tenants in common, it aids care home fees planning.

What do you mean by this? I don’t understand

The Wills need to be properly written giving a right to reside to the remaining spouse with clauses setting out the rules regarding remarriage etc.
if the remaining spouse wishes to sell up, either the new property is bought as tenants in common with the beneficiaries or the proceeds of sale are split.

Ok, if you are TIC and the deceased spouse has left their share to beneficiaries other than the remaining spouse then the remaining spouse, should they need to go into care only owns half a house, the value of which is calculated as the value of half a house on the open market. The value of half a house on the open market is virtually nil, so is mostly disregarded when assessing their financial status re paying for the care home.

The house is currently worth ~500k
Thank you
im so confused now…😩

What is confusing you?
This planning is my day job btw.

What’s confusing is what is the BEST thing to do for everyone, that leaves everyone in a good position

Fair, however your partner gets to stay in the house (if that’s what you want) until he cohabits, marries or dies, if that’s what you stipulate, and your kids get your share of the property after that AS LONG AS YOU GET A PROPERLY DRAFTED WILL.

@MyNamedoesntWork thank you.

This ☝️. It’s entirely your decision but in your circumstances I would still do TIC even if my partner had no children. You say he is leaving his half to you which is up to him, but I assume he has no other family he wants to benefit, like nieces and nephews? You’re in a different position as you have children and they would be my priority here, regardless of the DIS and life assurance. Say you die first and he remarries a new partner who has children, and he then dies … your half share goes ultimately to someone else’s children or even more distant relatives. I have a friend this happened to - her dad remarried someone who had no children, he then died and she inherited everything. She subsequently made a will to leave everything to her nieces on her death and my friend and her siblings got nothing. That might have been what he wanted but I doubt it and I definitely wouldn’t want that if I was in your circumstances. I wonder if you are feeling awkward about it because he’s said he’s leaving his share to you? He’s in a different situation to you having no children. If you do feel awkward or feel that it’s unfair that he’s you could tell him he doesn’t need to leave his share to you but you feel the right thing is for you to leave your share to your children, so you both do TIC and grant each other the right to continue living in the property until death (or earlier sale). I think you need to have a frank talk with each other and also see a solicitor which it sounds like you are going to do.

@MaidenGarret thank you, that pretty much is how I feel. I will do exactly that this evening. I will give him the opportunity to leave it to his sister if he wants and if he doesn’t then that’s also ok. TIC with life interest and my half to my dc and his half to me anyway is what it may be

If you want to ringfence the property against care fees it would be better if he left a right to reside for you and his half to your kids.

Let me tell you about my sister. She wasn’t married, had 2 children with her partner. She died very suddenly in her 40s, kids were 13 and 16 at the time. House owned as JT. He was nominated for her Death in Service (£70K). House was mortgaged up to the hilt.
DC received her pension until they left Uni as at that time they would have had to be married for her DP to receive it. A year after she died, he moved his new GF into the family home, married her months later and went on to have another child. They spent all his DIS very quickly - so much so that he didn’t even pay anything towards the DCs university costs. They’ve since moved house, it’s in joint names and he’s told his older DC that as they got some pension for a few years they won’t get the a share in the house when he dies, it will all go to his younger child.
Another woman has benefitted financially from my sister’s death, and that I can never forgive.

If OP dies, then her partner can make a will leaving it to the children. They should be made aware that If he remarries he should make a new will leaving some all to the children.

My partner is not my DC’s dad. They will get practically 800k right now in trust if I die. That’s not including the house. They have their dad to inherit from also.

Worst case scenario they inherit 150k each if I die between retirement and age 100. They will be 32 and 28 when I retire so that age at least and receiving at least 150k. As I may have cash also