No Stupid Questions with Susan Edmunds
Jul 14, 2026 · 15 min · 9 segments
A couple of episodes ago, we talked about tax. Now, it's time for the OTHER certainty in life: death. That’s where we’re going in this episode of No Stupid Questions: making a will, estate planning…
Michelle PopeGuest
Susan EdmundsHost
Justin GregoryHost
Now, another anonymous question, and it's kind of a long one, so sit back, get comfortable, everybody.
What is the situation with joint property and joint bank accounts when someone dies without a will? The anonymous question says, I've been living with my partner since the late 1980s.
They go on to say, Many years ago, says our listener, then any assets in joint names would go to the surviving partner.
We have not made wills, have no children, my parents have both died and his father has died, but recently I saw that if someone has a spouse or partner and parents but no children, the spouse received the personal effects $155,000 and two-thirds of what is left.
But if my partner dies before me, does his remaining parent inherit a third of our house? Meaning, will I need to sell it as I do not have funds to buy her out and I'm in my 60s? Plus a third of our two cars, a third of our joint bank account money, and a third of his KiwiSaver, private superannuation, bank accounts, insurance payouts, and shares in his name.
His mother is in residential care with dementia and already has enough funds to cover her care for decades.
What is the situation with joint property and joint bank accounts when someone dies? Crikey.
This person has described how things work if there's no will, as Michelle discussed earlier.
But joint ownership makes things a bit different and probably means this person doesn't have to worry so much.
So if assets are held in joint names, they usually just automatically go to the surviving joint owner.
If you have a joint bank account, that becomes just yours and it isn't part of your partner's estate.
Is the house actually owned jointly or is it tenants in common? That sort of thing.
Now, another anonymous question, and it's kind of a long one, so sit back, get comfortable, everybody.
What is the situation with joint property and joint bank accounts when someone dies without a will? The anonymous question says, I've been living with my partner since the late 1980s.
They go on to say, Many years ago, says our listener, then any assets in joint names would go to the surviving partner.
We have not made wills, have no children, my parents have both died and his father has died, but recently I saw that if someone has a spouse or partner and parents but no children, the spouse received the personal effects $155,000 and two-thirds of what is left.
But if my partner dies before me, does his remaining parent inherit a third of our house? Meaning, will I need to sell it as I do not have funds to buy her out and I'm in my 60s? Plus a third of our two cars, a third of our joint bank account money, and a third of his KiwiSaver, private superannuation, bank accounts, insurance payouts, and shares in his name.
His mother is in residential care with dementia and already has enough funds to cover her care for decades.
What is the situation with joint property and joint bank accounts when someone dies? Crikey.
This person has described how things work if there's no will, as Michelle discussed earlier.
But joint ownership makes things a bit different and probably means this person doesn't have to worry so much.
So if assets are held in joint names, they usually just automatically go to the surviving joint owner.
If you have a joint bank account, that becomes just yours and it isn't part of your partner's estate.
Is the house actually owned jointly or is it tenants in common? That sort of thing.
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