What happens in the real world when a partner is given a right to stay in a property after a death?

[Beamsss]

This is often cited as a way to make sure DC get their inheritance whole partner does not lose their home, or is given time to find somewhere else to live, but I can't really see ir working on a practical level without causing a headache for all concerned.

What happems if the partner becomes to old/unwell to care for the place properly?

Doesn't it build resentment if e.g. children have to wait decades for their inheritance?

What happens if the partner has a new partner and children, and the place becomes their home?

I'm sure there are cold hard legal answers to all of that, but in the real world where people's lives are involved, aren't you just leaving a long term massive headache for everyone you love?

This is the situation for my not-uncle. My aunt died in January and made it clear that he was to remain in her house after she died and then it would pass to my cousin (her son) once not-uncle passes away. Not-uncle is estranged from his kids and very unwell, my cousin's wife does a lot to make sure he goes to his medical appointments, we also include him in family meals and my mum calls him once a week to see how he is doing. None of us are related to him, but he was my aunt's partner for the best part of two decades - it's just what you do.

The only time I’ve seen this happen, it was a large property and became too much for the remaining spouse (financially and physically) so she negotiated moving to a smaller, cheaper property (and possibly taking some cash in addition, I’m not sure) with the DC. So that’s an option if the financials stack up.

This is why my house is going straight to my DH and not my children (and the same for me). He's retired, but it's a very small house and if it was a 'right to reside' type situation, he'd have to remain single forever because there's no way that half of this house value could house him in future!

So,

Usually the person living in the property has the option to sell and move and can take the interest on any money released.

The only occasion where you might get a real issue I suggest is if the person with the right to live in the property is much younger - in my case my wife is two months older than my ex wife so when I to die prematurely I dont think my oldest son would be 'disadvantaged' - statistically at least

Why would he have to remain single? He just wouldn’t be able to move anyone in, unless they had enough to support both of them.

I think this speaks to the 'realistically' point of the OP posts. Realistically two older people might well want to live together. Having your hands tied by only owning half of your property is very difficult for people who don't have a significant financial buffer. Neither I or my DH will ever inherit, so all we have is a very cheap house that we could not trade in for two smaller properties under any circumstances.

Why? If he has the right to reside he can have someone else living there with him? Especially if he owns half.

ETA I know this to be true because my friend is in this exact situation. Her mother owned the house jointly with new husband, she died leaving her share to her DC. He has moved his adult son in. She has taken legal advice and been told this is completely within his rights. The son will then own half when he inherits from his father, and whilst it may be legally possible to force a sale, again in the real world....

I've seen it go wrong from the other side (resulting in my family member getting a bargain). Surviving person owned half the house & could live there for as long as they chose, deceased person's children inherited the other half but couldn't sell as long as the survivor lived there. Survivor became mentally unwell hoarder with house literally falling to pieces and decaying and numerous attempt by local council to evict. Eventually they sold for a relative pittance to strangers (my family member) meaning the children inherited half of a house that had hugely depreciated in value when it went on the market.

I think this is why it's such a messy thing and why I've avoided this.

I can imagine my DH, if he met and married someone else, would want to buy a new place. Or just have the freedom to do that.

Who knows what the future holds? I don't want him (or me) having our hands tied by this in the hope that in the future my DC have some inheritance protection. I expect they WILL have half the house either way but if either of us dropped dead now we might have another 30-40 years to live, and who knows what the future holds?

If we were financially loaded it would be different. But we are very much not.

It depends on the relationships between the people involved.

I've seen it happen twice. On the first occasion the stepmother was younger than the deceased husband, she lived for a further 25 years and during that time the house fell into disrepair because she had no money or interest in paying for work. She and the step daughter did not have a great relationship but were on speaking terms. She died, daughter renovated the house and moved in.

The other time the stepfather and children had a very good relationship, they often visited and he kept the house in reasonable repair, no problems at all.

I also don't want my children EXPECTING half the house, or eyeing it up for 30 years hoping that my husband looks a bit peaky...

I'd rather they had no expectations and were financially independent.

DH inherited his fathers place , his Step M is to live there ( she and FIL weren’t married ) as long as she wants
The problem is , it’s 2 flats , one she lives in , one vacant
This means he has to pay second home tax on the empty one
MIL wants to move as it’s too much for her , but does t want him to sell ( confused ? We are ! ) but does want him to buy her somewhere else , which is what the Will says , but she is being totally unrealistic
It’s a nightmare , we’d just like to sell up and give some money to the grown up DC

Not usually when I had this in my previous will my DH had the right to reside in my house should I die first but could not move anyone in or remarry. If he did his right to reside was forfeited. My solicitor explained that this was essential so that no possible future girlfriend or wife or her dc could have any residency rights. After he passed my DC got the house. In the interim DH was 100% responsible for keeping house in a good state of repair and fully insured. We have a different will set up now after twenty years together but that was the agreement.

He moved into my house and had his own smaller house he rented out.

In this case the DH owned half the house. That probably makes a difference?

Ah yes I missed that sorry

My next door neighbour was in this situation. It was her house from first marriage, he was second husband following bereavement.

When she died, he lived in the home for another 11 years before he was too unwell and went into a home. His stepchildren could then sell the house.

Who would have stopped him if he got married/moved in a gf. Would he be forced to sell the house, who would do this. ?

My son, he was named as such in the will and should any issue arise could apply to have the right to reside revoked. Again this is standard practice. We started with a cohabitation agreement before we got married that said he could stay in the house for 2 years and revised it when we got married and then a few years ago we put all our properties in joint names and made mirror wills. If you talk these things through with a solicitor they sew up all the loose ends and protect your assets as you wish or need

What happens about inheritance tax? Wouldn’t the inheriting family have to sell the house straight away to pay it, if it’s worth a lot?

This what I mean about headaches in the real world though. It doesn't seem unreasonable to want to live with GF, and it does seem like a big headache for son to prevent it.

No it's easy if he wants to live with another woman he leaves my house and goes and lives with her. He does not move her in.

Not the inheritance is delayed until the right to reside has finished

It's easy on paper, yes. But if he doesn't and your son has to deal with it?

Then there's a cast iron legal framework in place and the right to reside is void. The solicitor would issue a notice to quit the property.

So my dad lives with his “loving partner” who is an absolutely narc (no she really is) because of her we’re now estranged. But anyway, he has no legal rights to the house despite paying thousands of pounds over the years in renovations. She has said she will do a will so he gets to stay in the house if she dies first and that none of her 4 kids could kick him out . So she won’t give him any kind of share of the property but she’ll happily let him spend all his inheritance on the place. And the chances she dies first are not likely as she’s about 15 years younger than him.