IHT for intestate married couple, joint home
RickSanchez
Member
Morning all,
An intestate married couple both age 75 have a net worth of £1 million as follows:
Main residence: £650,000 joint ownership
Wife: £150,000 in cash savings account
Husband: £200,000 in cash savings account
They have 2 middle aged children.
Given the surviving spouse inherits £275,000 plus half the remainder, how does this work with an illiquid asset like a main residence?
Thanks
An intestate married couple both age 75 have a net worth of £1 million as follows:
Main residence: £650,000 joint ownership
Wife: £150,000 in cash savings account
Husband: £200,000 in cash savings account
They have 2 middle aged children.
Given the surviving spouse inherits £275,000 plus half the remainder, how does this work with an illiquid asset like a main residence?
Thanks
Comments
Would Tenants in common be established on the house as a way to assign an illiquid asset still being used by the surviving spouse?
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/family/death-and-wills/who-can-inherit-if-there-is-no-will-the-rules-of-intestacy
Jointly-owned property
Couples may jointly own their home. There are two different ways of jointly owning a home. These are beneficial joint tenancies and tenancies in common.
If the partners were beneficial joint tenants at the time of the death, when the first partner dies, the surviving partner will automatically inherit the other partner's share of the property. However, if the partners are tenants in common, the surviving partner does not automatically inherit the other person's share.
Property and money that the surviving partner inherits does not count as part of the estate of the person who has died when it is being valued for the intestacy rules.
So in this case either surviving spouse would inherit everything under intestacy, as the remaining estate value (once the jointly owned property automatically passes to spouse), is below £275k (either £200k or £150k), and children would get nothing. @RickSanchez