Changing how your home is owned can form part of estate planning.
Many couples own property as joint tenants. In appropriate circumstances, changing the ownership to tenants in common can allow each person's share to pass under their Will rather than automatically passing to the surviving owner.
Joint tenants and tenants in common
HMRC explains that, with a joint tenancy, a deceased owner's interest normally passes by survivorship to the remaining owner. With a tenancy in common, each owner has a separate share and that share passes under the owner's Will or, if there is no Will, under the intestacy rules.
Why it can be considered
We can use severance as part of wider estate planning where the intention is to protect a share of the home for beneficiaries. It is often considered alongside Will trusts and other estate-planning arrangements.
It needs to fit the wider plan
Severance on its own does not determine what happens to the property after death. The Will, trust provisions, ownership shares and the family's circumstances all need to work together.
Could this be relevant to you?
Every estate is different. HWT can talk through your circumstances and explain the options before you decide what you need.
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