tenants in common meaning

browser11

ALL THE REST RESIDUE AND REMAINDER of my estate  I  BEQUEATH to my nephews  in equal shares as tenants in common.
The above  phrase was put in my will by a solicitor. I am in the process of redoing it myself. Now the residue of my estate referred to is just money in a bank account. But why is the phrase "tenants in common" included ? This it seems to me  refers to property/housing. Should I leave it there or edit it out ? Or does it make no difference ?

nuac

A lot of Probate litigation has arisen from testators drafting their own wills.
Apart from costs and delay, disagreements about the meaning of a will can cause ructions within a family.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

368100

Anybody actually got an answer for the OP rather than commenting on them redoing their will themselves?

Im interested in answer also

browser11

I am not  redrafting the will. Just  basically signing with new witnesses.
But I need to decide  whether I should drop the clause "tenants in common" as drafted. Looks strange to me.

Kristopherus

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Tenancy+in+Common

Indricotherium

browser11 wrote: »

I am not  redrafting the will. Just  basically signing with new witnesses.
But I need to decide  whether I should drop the clause "tenants in common" as drafted. Looks strange to me.

You are demonstrating a lack of the basic knowledge required to draft a will.

hullaballoo

368100 wrote: »

Anybody actually got an answer for the OP rather than commenting on them redoing their will themselves?

Im interested in answer also

Report the post if you have a problem but leave the moderation to the moderators please.

It's a perfectly valid point in light of what the OP had said that DIY wills cost more money than they save.

Claw Hammer

browser11 wrote: »

I am not  redrafting the will. Just  basically signing with new witnesses.
But I need to decide  whether I should drop the clause "tenants in common" as drafted. Looks strange to me.

A will is ambulatory, meaning assets acquired after it is executed are dealt with by the executor. The residue at the moment may only consist of cash in a bank but it can and does happen that some other asset (such as a house) is acquired before death, which will go into the residue because it is not mentioned in the will. It is common enough for people of advanced age to inherit property when their brothers or sisters die, and before they get around to amending theri will( if they are still capale of it) they then die themselves. I see no gain in getting rid of that phrase.

Mr. Incognito

I could assist you but you would sue me when you screw up the rest of the bequest so best of luck with it and I am sure the €500 you save on getting someone to properly draft it will be eaten up in the first consultation fee when you have to get the problem sorted.

Pat Mustard

browser11 wrote: »

ALL THE REST RESIDUE AND REMAINDER of my estate I BEQUEATH to my nephews in equal shares as tenants in common.
The above phrase was put in my will by a solicitor. I am in the process of redoing it myself. Now the residue of my estate referred to is just money in a bank account. But why is the phrase "tenants in common" included ? This it seems to me refers to property/housing. Should I leave it there or edit it out ? Or does it make no difference ?

It's not possible to answer that question directly, without giving legal advice, which is against the forum charter.

It is possible to answer the question indirectly, by explaining the meaning of tenancy in common as against joint tenancy, the other common form of co-ownership of land.

It would not be expected for non lawyer to know the difference between those two forms of co-ownership. However, because you don't know this, it seems clear that you don't know enough to set about drafting a Will and it seems unlikely that you would know how to ensure that it is executed and witnessed correctly. The people who should draft Wills and oversee execution are solicitors who do this work regularly. Many solicitors do this work but some don't.

The cost of getting it right could be in the region of €150-€200.

The cost of getting it wrong could be anywhere from thousands upwards. High Court litigation can cost hundreds of thousands of euro and it when it comes to Wills, costs tend to be paid out of the estate of the deceased. So you'll be dead but you could leave a costly mess behind you.

If you want avoid wasting money on legal fees, have your Will drafted by an experienced and competent solicitor.