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

A sobering example of the power of JT to destroy a will was when I was executor for a will that formed a trust for children and a life interest for the spouse, all clearly stated, witnessed and signed - BUT - the solicitor who drew up the will had neglected to change the Joint Tenancy to Tenants in Common, the will failed, the co-joint tennant inherited absolutely, nothing that could be done.

There was a case on here recently where a child was gifted a share of property in a will, but the property was JT, again the will failed.

You can promise anything in a will, I could draw up a will in which I gift Buckingham Palace to my cousin, that would be entirely legitimate, but unfortunately as I don't own it my executor could not pass on the asset described and my cousin would end up with nothing.

That's the issue with JT, as soon as one party dies, their notional 100% chunk dies with them, the other party already owns 100%, so there is no asset to pass in the deceaseds will, it just doesn't exist.

And a note on mutual wills, these are a bad idea, they form a contract that cannot be broken without both testators agreement, once one is dead, that's it, its locked in. Changes can't be made to say include a new grandchild or make a tax saving.

Worse still, whilst the wills terms can't be changed the whole asset (as opposed to 50%) is still all available for care fees, bankruptcy etc etc...

If you look at a few solicitors websites for details, you will see they gently advise against or steer people away from this avenue.

Sorry I misread the original comment from the OP. My partner and I have done this as tenants in Common, not joint tenants.

Wot she said

Fair enough, you will probably find your wills use language like "life interest" and name executors and trustees, and that they set up a will trust for the first deceaseds share.

These trusts are great because they are tax efficient, easy to set up, have no 10 year or exit charge but rung fence that asset for the next generation whilst giving the survivor a lifetime of use of that asset.

Yes exactly that. We knew what we wanted and our solicitor knew what she was doing.