A Severance of Tenancy is when joint owners of property change its ownership. If a person owns a property jointly, either as a married couple, partners or friends, they choose a type of ownership. They own the property as either:
- Beneficial Joint tenants or
- Tenants in Common
As Joint Tenant owners, each owner owns 100% of the property at the same time as the other(s). Joint Tenants own the house together so when one owner dies, the surviving owner(s) own the property automatically whatever the owner’s Will might state.
If the property is owned as Tenants in Common, each person owns their share (typically 50/50 but can be any proportion) so if one dies, their share of the property passes to a beneficiary named in their Will or according to the Rules of Intestacy.
Severance of Tenancy is very popular with couples (married or otherwise) seeking to protect the house and other assets from third party threats and/or the remarriage of the survivor. People often do not want the surviving owner to own more than their ‘share’. This can be prevented from happening by a Severance of Tenancy achieves this by changing the ownership from Joint Tenants to Tenants in Common.
This service is offered by this company for a fee of £200.
Severing a Joint Tenancy is required for certain Trusts such as Flexible Life Interest Trusts, Discretionary Trusts and Property Protection Trusts.
