House ownership options

[BeagleMum1]

Hi, I'll cut a long story short but I met someone who works in Estate planning & Wills and they suggested that DH and I should change our home ownership from Joint tenants to Tenants in Common. I was at an event so didn't get the chance to get into an in-depth discussion but I wondered if anyone else has a view on this?

You need legal advice as there are pros and cons.

Legally as joint tenants when one of you dies the other inherits the house, no ifs no buts. A will cannot override this. Essentially you each own 100% of the property so when one does you still own 100%.

Tenants in common means you each own a %, usually 50:50 but can be different. In your will each of you can leave each other a life interest whilst leaving your 50% to someone else. It can be useful for 2nd marriages for example each partner has 2 children, they leave their spouse a life interest but their own DC their 50%. This stops the survivor disinheriting their step children. Much more frequent than people realise, particularly if the go on to remarry again.

You can specify things like the spouse can downsize etc. but any profit not reinvested in property is split 50:50. Who is responsible for maintenance etc.

Sorry bad spelling - hope it makes sense