Sorry, but it’s no go for the house (“Lazy House”) in Barbados. My grandfather was the last to live there.
As far as property, succession and family laws in Ontario go, it can get a bit messy, but here’s a ten cent tour (and remember, this is for Ontario, not elsewhere).
If a person holds a house as a joint tenant, the house goes to the other joint tenant without passing through the estate. If a person holds a house as a tenant in common, then the share in the house passes into the estate for distribution according to the will. It is entirely a matter of choice as to whether one purchases a house as a joint tenant or as a tenant in common, although most people in Ontario chose to purchase as joint tenants (by not passing into the estate, probate fees are saved).
If there is no will, then the estate goes to the husband/wife and children (obviously only after all debts are paid). If there are no children, the husband/wife gets it all. If there is one child, then the husband/wife gets half and the child gets half. If there is more than one child, then the husband/wife gets a third, and the remainder is split equally between the children.
If there is a will, the testator can do whatever her or she likes, but has to watch out for being grossly unfair, for that can lead to the will being contested. Property which falls into the estate is distributed according to the will (remember that the house will not fall into the estate if it was owned jointly).
Now comes the messy stuff. The surviving husband/wife can elect to take as if the deceased were alive and they separated, rather than take as set out above under the intestacy laws or under the will. In Ontario, when married people separate, they split the assets and debts that they came into while they were married (there are lots of exceptions that are not split, though, such as gifts or inheritances), and they split the matrimonial home regardless of who bought it or when it was bought (remember, this is the law for Ontario, so don’t assume that it is the same elsewhere – it is not). The long and the short of it is that by making such an election, the surviving husband/wife can always get half the house and half of everything else, leaving the children to divide the rest according to the will or the intestacy regime.
Child and spousal support claims can also be made against the estate whether or not an election was made. If an election was made, the funds for support would be taken from the estate remaining after the surviving husband/wife had taken his/her share.
Now comes the really messy stuff. All bets are off when a surviving common law spouse is not happy with how an estate is distributed. In Ontario, common law spouses have no rights concerning family property, and no rights concerning succession law beyond a right to support where needed. On the books, they are SOL, but in reality, they often can make claims in equity, where they ask the court to make a fair decision regardless of the statute laws.
Finally, the surviving husband/wife is not dinged with capital gains, but children who take are, so wills and tax planning go hand in hand. That, however, is for another day.
And now back to your regularly scheduled program.
