Tenants in common whilst married?

[RivieraLido]

I am married and my husband and I are about to buy a property together. We have a child together. Neither of us has prior children. I had a property before marriage and I'm selling that, and the majority of the deposit for our purchase will come from that sale. We will then pay the mortgage and maintenance of the house/bills jointly.

Question: is tenancy in common actually of any benefit to protect one's interests when you are already married? I love and trust my husband but would like to ensure that my contribution is documented in the event of any worst case scenarios. I also want to ensure that our child gets my portion of the deposit in any inheritance in my absence.

Also, is it better to do tenancy in common in terms of percentages of the property owned, or to say the deposit money is mine and then the rest is split 50:50?

It’s effective for inheritance if one of you dies still married. In terms of divorce, you should speak to a solicitor about it. I think in the absence of children and where both parties have enough capital to house themselves then an agreement entered into with legal advice after marriage should be given significant weight in any financial settlement. But do get proper advice.

if you’re going to do it then definitely tenants in common as a % of the house value. Otherwise the value of your ring fenced deposit will reduce year on year.

My parents switched to tenants in common later in life to protect half of the house inheritance if one of them needs to go into a care home. Obviously if both do then it's all gone.

Won’t your child need to be housed by and with dh if you die? Are you compromising this? Will dh have to sell up to release the money? Would DS be able to make money from the inheritance of its tied up in the house they live in? Plus DC would not be a first time buyer if they part own a house. I’d talk to a solicitor about trusts and lifetime interest for Dh.