I am not a solicitor and I have been in a house where we owned it as tenants in common. But let me just point out something, if anything happened to one of you, the other person would be left owning half a house. You might then find yourself homeless if the house has to be sold. This could happen if the next of kin was the beneficary. Even if the other half of the house was left to the surviving partner someone could contest the will. One of the partners might have a secret child ( did you see the papers last week?) all sorts of scenarios could surface. It is a pity that the solicitor did not explain why he thought it a good idea to buy as joint tenants. This means that you both own the house and on the first death the surviving partner then owns all the house.Dont put all your money into the house if this is not what you wanted.Try and put equal amounts each it is the fairest way. Of course you partners son has entitlements, he is his next of kin.