New will or tenants in common query

[Am59]

Hi, My husband was diagnosed with Parkinson's dementia 3 months ago after being diagnosed with Parkinson's 9 years ago. I really should have sorted out finances then but life for in the way. He's in the mild stage of dementia. I've got a LPA for him and we have wills we made years ago leaving everything to each other. We have 3 grown up children. My husband is 73 (13 years older than me).
If anything should happen to me first and My husband needed to go into care, the value of the house would be swallowed up in care fees. I would like our children to inherit something. Should i change my will and now leave my half to the children and not my husband? I don't think he could do that with his share as it would be seen as deprivation of assets. Or should we become tenants in common? Would that protect my half if anything happened to me first? If my half was in my children's names they wouldn't stop me from moving in the future. Thank you.

 

[anxious annie]

Hi
I think you will need to get Tenants in Common first as if you are joint owners the house passes automatically to your other half so if you died first it would pass to your husband. You would then need to make a will leaving your half to your children ( but giving him a "lifetime interest" , so he isn't homeless, before needing care.) I think your husband can do the same, if he has capacity to make a will. I don't think it's deprivation of assets, because the will only comes into play when he dies, and there may be no money left as care home fees may have swallowed it up by then.
As I said I'm not really sure, but this is what I think can happen.
I am sure others on TP will know, or maybe consult Citizens Advice?

 

[nitram]

Should i change my will and now leave my half to the children and not my husband? I don't think he could do that with his share as it would be seen as deprivation of assets.

If you are currently joint tenants any will has no bearing on inheritance of the property, the property passes to the remaining joint tenant outside of any will

Or should we become tenants in common?
Would that protect my half if anything happened to me first? If my half was in my children's names they wouldn't stop me from moving in the future. Thank you

To protect your share of the property should you predecease your husband you can sever the joint tenancy by simply serving him notice, he does not have to agree
https://www.gov.uk/joint-property-ownership/change-from-joint-tenants-to-tenants-in-common
You can then make a new will leaving your share to anybody you like

 

[Wildflowerlady]

Hi @Am59
My partner and I already have our home as Tenants in common it always has been that way due to the fact this was a second relationship for both of us we have been in our home now for 19 years. We both had a marriage ending in divorce not bereavement.
We made Wills many years ago and the fact is I wanted to protect my share of the property when we bought our current home. I invested a much larger percentage in it with the view that daughter would inherit my estate such as whatever was left plus it reduced the mortgage. The money I invested was given in a divorce settlement by her father it only seemed right that any benefit would go to her.

We are in the position that it is most likely my partner will need care in the future.
My partner like yours was also diagnosed with Parkinson's his diagnosis was in 2008 he is late 70's 16 years older than myself so some similarities between us but as yet no dementia.

It is something I worry about as my dad has mixed dementia and so I see what effect it has.
I hope being younger I will manage some things but we are very open to the fact that additional care will almost certainly be needed as well as things progress.
We had always made the assumption that due to our age differences I would outlive my partner but have come to realize that nothing in life is certain after all.
I am looking to revisit my Will on the basis that after all our years together it is only right that my partner will have the option to stay in whatever home we have for as long as he can. A move to a bungalow is something we really need to be looking into as the Parkinson's has progressed in the last few months with some falls. We will plan to buy a bungalow on same basis Tenants in Common.
My daughter is very agreeable to partner having Lifetime interest in any property as she has a very good relationship with partner, her dad is still alive too. So my plan is to re-visit Will and give him the "Lifetime interest" as @anxious annie has suggested it is something we have been thinking about for a while now. Current Will was set up that a reasonable selling time was allowed to enable partner to find another home should I have met my demise prior to him .
My partner did leave his share to me as was much smaller and he wanted me to have that bit of security from him. My understanding is its quite simple to switch from Joint Tenants to Tenants in Common we were able to stipulate our ownership in percentage's.

 

[Am59]

Thank you for your replies. So just to clarify, as the house is in joint names with no mortgage, I would have to see a solicitor and ask them to change it to tenants in common. Would I still need to change my will as well leaving my half to my grown up children? If anything happened to me my husband wouldn't be able to cope alone even with carers coming in so the house would have to be sold. If My husband died first who would his half belong to if we were tenants in common? Sorry I'm finding it hard to grasp.

 

[nitram]

Would I still need to change my will as well leaving my half to my grown up children?
Yes
If anything happened to me my husband wouldn't be able to cope alone even with carers coming in so the house would have to be sold.
Yes, proceeds would be shared between him and your children
If My husband died first who would his half belong to if we were tenants in common? Sorry I'm finding it hard to grasp
His half would be distributed according to his existing will