Should parents who are joint home-owners make a will ?

[redstar]

My parents are discussing whether or not they need to make a will.
They are joint owners of the family home, no mortgage or assets other than house contents.
They have one 'child' (me).

What we are not sure of is, without a will ....

a) Does the home and contents ownership automatically pass entirely to the surviving spouse as he/she is joint owner ?

b) Does two-thirds of the deceased spouses estate (ie 2/3 of their half of the home/contents) pass to the surviving spouse and one-third to me (as only child). ?

We just want to keep things simple and let everything pass to the surviving spouse.

We don't want my surviving parent to get two-thirds of half the deceaseds assets with me getting one-third of half. Sounds messy, and I don't want the one-third anyway.

Does joint ownership mean 50-50 ownership ?

 

[Mpsox]

As new parents, we've just made a will. It makes life a lot easier and should also reflect what happens if both parents die at the same time, eg as a result of an accident

 

[Welfarite]

This will help you decide..... http://www.citizensinformation.ie/categories/death/before-a-death/making_a_will

 

[Stifster]

My parents are discussing whether or not they need to make a will.
They are joint owners of the family home, no mortgage or assets other than house contents.
They have one 'child' (me).

What we are not sure of is, without a will ....

a) Does the home and contents ownership automatically pass entirely to the surviving spouse as he/she is joint owner ?

b) Does two-thirds of the deceased spouses estate (ie 2/3 of their half of the home/contents) pass to the surviving spouse and one-third to me (as only child). ?

We just want to keep things simple and let everything pass to the surviving spouse.

We don't want my surviving parent to get two-thirds of half the deceaseds assets with me getting one-third of half. Sounds messy, and I don't want the one-third anyway.

Does joint ownership mean 50-50 ownership ?

It is most likely that they are joint owners (joint tenants is the legal term) of the property and in that event the property would pass to the survivor will or no will.

The same goes for joint bank accounts.