Joint Tennants and Tennants in Common

Soldato
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First of this is being looked at by a solicitor however I am not sure he is right from what I have read on various websites and land registry.

Background

Grandmother in law owned two properties with her husband both properties on the land registry showing as Joint Tennants as they were married so owned both half's of the properties. Her husband passed away so according to the wording on his death she got the other half of the house.

Now this is where it gets complicated. So both houses were sold and she moved with one of her daughters to another property however that relationship went sour and short story the house down south is being sold and will be used to purchase a house with her other daughter up my way.

So the house from down south was put on the market and when was sold STC we got a letting from a no win no fee lawyer saying the daughter is entitled to money as her dad left one of the properties in his will, this was news to us.

In the will it says he leaves one of the properties to the daughter, however there is nothing on the land registry to back this up, but our solicitor says they does not need to happen they can be an agreement that overrules the land registry. We are waiting for the solicitors who did the will originally to send the documents over, and the grandmother in law has no knowledge of this, nor the will was changed giving the house to the daughter.

So from my point of view she is not entitled to any money as the house was owned by the grandmother in law and owned solely by her from the granddads passing.

So not sure if need to wait for documents to be exchanged, or seek a second opinion.

Thoughts?

Cheers

Kimbie
 
Associate
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Surely, you cant leave a house to someone in a will if you don't actually own it? You could leave 50% of it to someone else as that is what my grandad did, he left it in his will to my dad so that if my gran ever needed care in later life they can only take 50% of the value. Its fairly common now.

So, given the above the daughter would be entitled to 50% of the sale price of one of the houses??

This is potentially going to get messy because the original solicitors should have found the new will and acted on it rather than the old will. The daughter might have to pursue a case to get the grant of probate reversed and the assets distributed as per the new will.
 
Soldato
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In the will it says he leaves one of the properties to the daughter, however there is nothing on the land registry to back this up, but our solicitor says they does not need to happen they can be an agreement that overrules the land registry. We are waiting for the solicitors who did the will originally to send the documents over, and the grandmother in law has no knowledge of this, nor the will was changed giving the house to the daughter.
I'm not saying this is what happened in these circumstances as you said it was done by a solicitor but this is a perfect example of why people shouldn't just DIY a Will from online or a WHS Will Kit as it can cause all sorts of problems.

If they owned the property as joint tenants they both own the whole house there are no "shares" as such so on the first death the property is vested solely in the survivor. It is as simple as sending a death certificate to the land registry to prove this and the deceased's name will be removed from the title.

Tenants in common each own respective shares that can be left through a Will to whoever you like. The land registry will enter a restriction on the title preventing sale by a sole person which would alert solicitors dealing with the sale.

However this means that if the property is owned as joint tenants but the Will requires something specific it causes a problem. I am not a Will/Trust/Probate lawyer so I don't know what would have been the best way to deal with it at the time but generally when people update their Will and their wishes require ownership as tenants in common it would get changed at the land registry at that time.

I dont think anyone would be able to advise without seeing the Will so it will be one for the solicitors to figure out
 
Soldato
OP
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Bourne, Lincs
From what we can tell sending of the death cert was never sent as both their names are still showing on the land registry report but from what you are saying tallies with my view that on the death of the grandfather the entire house passes to the other spouse and thus can't be left in a will to a daughter.

Sadly the solicitors are dragging their feet with this, and I know the current situation is not helping but still seem slow to deal with it
 
Associate
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20 Sep 2014
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Southampton
You can make the new will void as she could have forced him to write it .

It's a attempt to get cash or a free house, I would just tell them to do one and say the money is no longer there and it went all to the tax man.
 
Caporegime
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5 Sep 2010
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You can make the new will void as she could have forced him to write it .

It's a attempt to get cash or a free house, I would just tell them to do one and say the money is no longer there and it went all to the tax man.

The OP would do well to ignore your post and any other "advice" you might offer.
 
Associate
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Southampton
The OP would do well to ignore your post and any other "advice" you might offer.

Sorry I was meant to say It sound like Undue Influence has taken place instead of void. It seems odd that his wife did not know about the new will.

Anyway it is down to OP and his solicitor to decide on what they do, After all this is a website about computers and one time posters asking for DIY advice :D.
 
Soldato
Joined
1 Mar 2008
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Deep North
If they were Joint Tenants then the property passed to the sole survivor on his death therefore he could not leave the property in his will to someone else, unless he was the sole survivor and died last.

If they were Tenants in Common then they both owned shares (usually 50%) and therefore he could only leave his 50% share of in his will.

It will usually say something like "no disposition by a sole proprietor..." on the Land Registry Title Register if it's Tenants in Common.
 
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