Jointly-owned Assets

 There are two ways of jointly owning your house, these are:-

• Beneficial joint tenants
• Tenants in common.

When property is owned as joint tenants, the surviving owner will automatically inherit, under the survivorship rules, the other person’s share in the property.

When a property is held as tenants in common, each person will hold their own individual shares in the property and these will pass in accordance with their Will or the Intestacy rules.

Joint Bank Accounts and Investments

The survivor of a joint bank or building society account or any other type of joint investment, will automatically inherit, under the survivorship rules, the whole of the money if one person dies.

With the exception of property held as tenants common, any jointly owned assets will pass under the rules of survivorship and their values will not be considered when determining entitlement under the intestacy rules. The values must still be declared to HMRC.