SEVERANCE OF JOINT TENANCY
Protect your share of your home throughSEVERANCE OF JOINT TENANCY
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Do you want to protect your property from potential care home fees?
There is a little known change you can make with your house ownership that could save you ££££'s in Care Home Fees.
If more than one of you owns a property you can own it in one of two ways, as either Joint Tenants or Common Tenants.
If you own your property with your spouse or partner as Common Tenants you can legally gift your proportion of the house to whoever you want.
Under these circumstances there may be an opportunity to save your financial interest in the house from potential care home fees for the surviving partner.
This could save hundreds of thousands or pounds in Care Home fees.
Severing the Joint Tenancy
If you or your spouse/partner own property in joint names, it will usually be held as Joint Tenants, in which case the right of survivorship will apply. The type of ownership affects what you can do with the property if your relationship with a joint owner breaks down, or if you want to protect your share of the property from paying towards your surviving spouse or partner care home costs leaving less for your loved ones to inherit.
If you are a Joint Tenant, this means that on the death of one tenant, his or her share automatically passes to the surviving tenant.
If you do not wish this to happen, then the Joint Tenancy must be severed to create a Tenancy in Common. This is a fairly simple process and, once done, the right of survivorship no longer applies, such that on the death of one tenant, his or her share does not automatically pass to the surviving tenant, but according to his or her valid Will.
Joint tenantsAs joint tenants....
you have equal rights to the whole property
the property automatically goes to the other owners if you die
you can’t pass on your ownership of the property in your will
Common TenantsAs tenants in common..
the property doesn’t automatically go to the other owners if you die thus saving potential Care Home fees.
you can pass on your share of the property in your will.
if you divorce or separate and want to leave your share of the property to someone else.