Rules of Intestacy - Tenants In Common
Discussion
Here at PH, we all know that punctuation matters. The below is taken from the HMRC website and the "Intestacy - who inherits if someone dies without a will?" page.
Links below:
https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-w...
https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-w...
[b]"Intestacy - who inherits if someone dies without a will?
The husband, wife or civil partner keeps all the assets (including property), up to £270,000, and all the personal possessions, whatever their value.
The remainder of the estate will be shared as follows:
the husband, wife or civil partner gets an absolute interest in half of the remainder
the other half is then divided equally between the surviving children
If a son or daughter (or other child where the deceased had a parental role) has already died, their children will inherit in their place."[/b]
My reading of the above is that where you have tenants in common, and one dies without a will, the other tenant in common inherits the remainder of the property REGARDLESS OF VALUE and then the first £270k of other assets plus half of any excess above £270k.
i.e. if the house was worth £600k and there was £400k of other assets, the surviving spouse would inherit the other half of the house (value £300k) plus £270k, plus £65k (being half of the £130k which comes from the £400k less the £270k already taken into account),
The key being the comma after (including property) means that the survivor inherits the deceased share of the property REGARDLESS OF VALUE, plus an amount of cash.
If there was only £100k of other assets in the above scenario, this would mean that the surviving spouse would inherit the other half of the house (value £300k) plus £100k (being 100% of the available assets).
Do I have this right?
Links below:
https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-w...
https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-w...
[b]"Intestacy - who inherits if someone dies without a will?
The husband, wife or civil partner keeps all the assets (including property), up to £270,000, and all the personal possessions, whatever their value.
The remainder of the estate will be shared as follows:
the husband, wife or civil partner gets an absolute interest in half of the remainder
the other half is then divided equally between the surviving children
If a son or daughter (or other child where the deceased had a parental role) has already died, their children will inherit in their place."[/b]
My reading of the above is that where you have tenants in common, and one dies without a will, the other tenant in common inherits the remainder of the property REGARDLESS OF VALUE and then the first £270k of other assets plus half of any excess above £270k.
i.e. if the house was worth £600k and there was £400k of other assets, the surviving spouse would inherit the other half of the house (value £300k) plus £270k, plus £65k (being half of the £130k which comes from the £400k less the £270k already taken into account),
The key being the comma after (including property) means that the survivor inherits the deceased share of the property REGARDLESS OF VALUE, plus an amount of cash.
If there was only £100k of other assets in the above scenario, this would mean that the surviving spouse would inherit the other half of the house (value £300k) plus £100k (being 100% of the available assets).
Do I have this right?
Not sure you have that right... ;-) but I’ll admit that I’m still confused by their use of the phrase « all the assets (including property) » and then the subsequent reference to a numerical value (presumably of liquidated cash balances) and lastly the reference to « personal possessions »....
Is a car an asset or a personal possession etc? Any old car such as the family hack, or a cherished collectors’s car??
If there was no comma, it would read...
« ..all the assets (including property) up to £270,000, and... »
But because the comma is there, it’s a list made up of three elements:
..all the assets (including property),
up to £270,000,
and...
The point being that even intestate, the survivor gets to keep the house plus some (potentially all) of the sole name liquid assets up to £270k, the personal possessions (perhaps for sentimental reasons) and potentially half of any excess liquid assets with the other half to be shared with their children.
Is a car an asset or a personal possession etc? Any old car such as the family hack, or a cherished collectors’s car??
If there was no comma, it would read...
« ..all the assets (including property) up to £270,000, and... »
But because the comma is there, it’s a list made up of three elements:
..all the assets (including property),
up to £270,000,
and...
The point being that even intestate, the survivor gets to keep the house plus some (potentially all) of the sole name liquid assets up to £270k, the personal possessions (perhaps for sentimental reasons) and potentially half of any excess liquid assets with the other half to be shared with their children.
Add up all the assets (but not personal chattels) in sole name and include the house (half value), spouse gets (personal chattels) plus first £270k of that total value plus half of the remaining balance and the kids get the other half of the remainder (or in trust if they are under 18), that is my take on it.
Thanks again.
I think my confusion was based on the distinction between « joint tenants » and « tenants in common ».
With the former, the survivor automatically inherits the half of the property from the deceased and beyond that, the £270k threshold comes into play with any other assets.
P.s. classic car(s) not « purely » held for investment would still appear to be considered as chattels. ;-)
I think my confusion was based on the distinction between « joint tenants » and « tenants in common ».
With the former, the survivor automatically inherits the half of the property from the deceased and beyond that, the £270k threshold comes into play with any other assets.
P.s. classic car(s) not « purely » held for investment would still appear to be considered as chattels. ;-)
Edited by Mogul on Friday 30th October 23:13
Gassing Station | Finance | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff