Who inherits what ?

Dig all

Hello , I'm looking for some info on inheritance.my parents owns 2 houses My father died 10 year ago and made no will, my mother is still alive and I'm wondering does ownership of the 2 houses automatically go to her , or is it split between herself and 3 kids. Both houses are in joint ownership on land registry or prai .

Any advice appreciated

MrMusician18

If there is no will ownership is split between the wife of the deceased and his children.

It is not an even split. Refer to the rules of intestacy.

AnRothar

You state that "your parents" own 2 houses.

How did they own them is key.

Joint tenants or tenants in common?

Dig all

I'm nearly certain it says tenants in common on the title deeds

Peregrinus

Well, make your self absolutely certain, one way or the other, because it makes a big difference.

If two people join a house as joint tenants and one of them dies, the other immediately and automatically becomes the sole owner of the house. No share in the house ever forms part of the deceased owner's estate, the executor/administrator never has any control over or involvement with it, and what the deceased owner's will (if any) says is irrelevant.

But if two people own a house as tenants in common and one of them dies, the share of the deceased owner forms part of the estate, is dealt with by the executor/administrator, and passes to the heirs of the deceased owner in the same way as all his other property. If the deceased owner makes no will and dies leaving a spouse and children then all their estate, including their share in the house will be divided between the spouse (who gets two-thirds) and the children (who get one-third, divided equally between them).

Two points:

Don't be mislead by the jargon terms "joint tenants" and "tenants in common". We are not talking about a lease or tenancy here. Two people who jointly own the house outright will still be either "joint tenants" or "tenants in common".

If the owners are tenants in common and one dies without a will, it's their entire estate that gets divided up between the surviving spouse and the children. This doesn't mean that each individual asset has to be divided up that way. If there are enough assets in the estate it wouldn't be uncommon, for example, for the surviving spouse to take the entire interest in the family home as (part of) her two-thirds share of the state, with the children getting other assets to make up their one-third share. But this isn't automatic; it's something that has to be sorted out during the administration of the estate.