Rupert Mead investigates succession on death for Cohabitants
On death, certain types of asset will pass to a surviving cohabitant independently of any will, including property held by the cohabitants as joint tenants which passes by survivorship (typically houses and bank accounts) and certain types of nominated property, eg death in service benefits. For most other types of property, including real property held by cohabitants as tenants in common, the only way to ensure that a surviving cohabitant will benefit is by making a will. In the absence of one, a cohabitant will have no automatic right to anything in his deceased partner’s estate and the intestacy rules contained in the Administration of Estates Act 1925 (AEA 1925) will apply.
INTESTACY RULES
Under AEA 1925, an intestate person’s estate is divided between certain members of his family (children, then parents, then siblings, and so on in the statutory order), and failing any family, it will pass as bona vacantia to the Crown (or the Duchy of Lancaster or Duke of Cornwall where appropriate). Paradoxically, the latter can afford a surviving cohabitant
