Severance of Tenancy

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Joint Tenants

It is an often quoted statement that buying a house is the biggest investment many of us will ever make – however as with many issues in life it is not simple and the devil can be in the details. Normally, when a couple buy a property, they purchase it as joint tenants. This means that jointly they own the whole of the property. This is absolutely fine, as long as there are no complexities, for example a family split up after one party contributing more to the purchase, a party being considered for care or a party having children from a previous relationship or marriage. Without such complexities, Joint Tenants is a useful way of holding the property title because upon the first death the property would automatically transfer to the surviving tenant.

An Agreement in Place

As highlighted above, there are various reasons why joint tenants may not be the best option for the parties concerned and it is often the case that by putting an agreement in place at the outset, problems can be avoided later.

If your intention is to protect your share for someone other than your partner or simply to define the proportions in anything other than an equal share, it is essential that you sever the tenancy on the property to avoid the automatic transfer to the joint owner.

This can be a simple process that Branch Legal will organise for you. Often the application is agreed mutually by both parties.

However, if the process is done later for a reason such as divorce, a 50/50 split can be achieved by one party alone as long as the joint owner is notified.

Your share of the property is then yours, it cannot be taken into consideration for the other tenants care fees and you can pass it under your Will for your loved ones/dependants, rather than it go to the other tenant. The Risks and Realities…No one likes to think about their spouse re-marrying after they have died but it could happen and in doing so any existing Will they had would become void. The new partner would inherit whatever your spouse owned should they predecease them. Without adequate estate planning your estate could pass to your spouse’s new partner and not your children.

A Simple Process

LASTING POWER OF ATTORNEY FAQS

Should you have children from your first marriage or from another relationship then it would only be fair to take their best interests into consideration. Maybe it would be fair to let your new spouse remain in your property for a certain period of time before allowing the children to inherit. This is something that can be addressed.
Marriages generally take into consideration the wealth and assets built within that marriage rather than that incorporated beforehand, especially when there are children from previous marriages or relationships.