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 ?
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 ?