Intestate and joint property

[Cloisters]

For the sake of example, say a married couple hold their home as joint tenants. They have children.

They have not written wills . One spouse dies intestate.

The property passes to the other joint holder i.e. surviving spouse.

However, this does not apply to valuing the estate and therefore half of the property would be included in the deceased estate.

If the first death was intestate and the and property was worth say £2million, then £1m would be in the deceased estate.

The £322,000 UKGOV threshold allowance in this case would pass directly to the surviving spouse and remaining £678,000 would be divided in two, £339,000 going to the spouse and £339,000 to children.

Is this correct please or does the fact that the couple are spouses and joint tenants mean the survivor simply inherits the house completely on first death.

Thanks,

[AGoodman]

You're combining the IHT and intestacy rules in a not quite right way.

The whole of the property would pass to the surviving spouse and so qualify for the spouse exemption for IHT. It's that simple.

The intestacy rules can only latch on to free estate (i.e. not joint assets) so, if there were no other assets, nothing would pass under the intestacy rules.

[Cloisters]

Ok, thank you that makes sense.