Will I Inherit My Partners Share Of Our Property When They Pass Away?

The key to answering this question is to establish how the property is ‘held’ by the owners.

If you are unsure how a property is held, you can request copies of the title to the property from the Land Registry, only if the property is registered.

If the property is unregistered, then you would need to look at the physical deeds.

Joint Tenants

When a property is held as 'joint tenants', each owner has an equal share that automatically passes to the surviving co-owner on death under the rule of survivorship. This will mean that the surviving owner becomes the sole owner of property.

If an owner passes away, then a death certificate should be sent to the Land Registry (if the property is registered) to remove the deceased’s name.

If the property is not registered at the Land Registry, then a copy of the death certificate should be placed with the title deeds.

If the property is unregistered and an application is made to the Land Registry to update the title register to the property, then this will trigger first registration of the property. Otherwise, the registration would not be triggered until the property comes to be sold i.e. for care or on the survivor’s death.

In this situation, unless you are the co-owner, the property would not pass to you regardless of what the deceased’s Will says.

Tenants in Common

If a property is held as tenants in common, then each owner owns a distinct share and that share will pass in accordance with their Will, (or the Intestacy Rules, if they don’t have one) and will not automatically pass to the co-owner.

So, if you are a beneficiary under the terms of the Will or the Intestacy Rules, then you may come to inherit the property (or at least part of it).

Again, an application will need to be made to the Land Registry to update the title to the property, but this time the Grant of Probate will be needed.

If the property is unregistered, a copy of the Grant of Probate can be placed with the unregistered title deeds until the property next comes to be sold, but this won’t actually put the share of the property into your name.

Sometimes a property is held as tenants in common to give effect to a trust in the Will, so it is important to seek legal advice to ensure that the property is appropriately dealt with.

What if I am the Sole Owner?

If the property is owned in the deceased’s sole name, then it will be likely that it will need to be sold on death and a Grant of Representation will be required.

The Grant of Representation will provide the authority to the Executors of the Will, or to the Administrators (if there is no Will), to sell the property in accordance with the deceased’s Will.

It will then be the responsibility of the Executors or Administrators to distribute the estate, including the net proceeds of sale, as per the Will or Intestacy Rules.

Next Steps...

If you have any queries about property ownership and the administration of an estate, please contact me on freephone 0800 011 6666 or via email at e.facer@timms-law.com.