Law1 min ago
IHT for partners
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My girlfriend and I are joint owners of our house, how do we stand w.r.t. IHT if one of use dies. (we have lived together for about 15 years).
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If one of you dies, you would be assessed for IHT, in the normal way. If you were married, the surviving spouse would automatically inherit the other half's assets, but there are no such rights in law for a 'common law' husband/wife. This (being married) isn't much of a solution, in any case, because the survivor then has an even bigger potential IHT liability to leave behind, having inherited all the assets of his/her other half.
To add to the previous answer, as long as you are joint-tenants, then ownership of the house would pass automatically to the surviving spouse (that is, it couldn't be given away in the deceased's will), but the survivor would not avoid assessment for IHT purposes, because there are no exemptions between 'common law' spouses.
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