All sorted here thanks 
.
I heard the other day that my neighbour whose wife died a month back might have a bit of a problem. She left her share of the flat to her children... 
. All very amicable at the moment allegedly, until the children start getting a bit itchy about their due inheritance and possibly forcing a sale 
Much depends on whether they held the ownership as "Joint Tenants" or as "Tenants in Common".
If the former then the wife's portion of the shared ownership devolves automatically to the surviving owner no matter what the will may say. If the latter then she may leave her portion to anyone she pleased ~ it would be extremely difficult to evict the old chap from his home as normally the courts would say that he is entitled to live there until he chooses to sell or bequeath his portion. I'm afraid any avaricious children may have to wait.
Owning property as Tenants in Common is a good way of avoiding inheritance tax as only the value of the portion held by the deceased at the time of her demise is assessed for the purposes of her estate.
