Joint tenants vs tenants in common: what happens to your home when you die
Joint tenants and tenants in common own a home in different ways, and it decides who gets your share when you die. How to check yours and how to change it.
11 min read
Estate Planning
Organising what you will leave behind: how your home is owned, how inheritance tax applies, when trusts help and what records your family will need.
Estate planning is less about wealth than about how much work you leave for whoever deals with things after you, because the way your home is owned, the gifts you make and whether a policy sits in trust all affect how much tax is paid and how long the estate takes to settle. Most of it comes down to a few documents and a clear record of what you hold and where.
For the tax side, the inheritance tax threshold explains when a bill arises and the residence nil rate band covers the extra allowance for passing on a home. If you are thinking about giving money away during your lifetime, the 7 year rule sets out how gifts are treated, whilst pensions and inheritance tax explains what changes for deaths from 6 April 2027.