Dying intestate with a joint mortgage

A question about : Dying intestate with a joint mortgage

I have a joint mortgage with my Mum. If she was to die intestate, would the equity in the house automatically go to me, as the other person named on the property, or to my Step-Dad, as her next of kin?

I know that usually when someone dies, the property goes completely to the other person named on the deeds but someone I was speaking to thinks my Step-Dad could claim for it (not that I think he would).

Thanks

Best answers:

• If you and your mum own the house as joint tenants, then the house passes to you automatically. If you own as tenants in common then your mum's share will pass to her estate, and will go to her husband, although her share, like yours, is subject to the mortgage.
  Do you know how you own the property?
  A joint mortgage does not determine how you own the property - if you have the paperwork from when you bought the house, if not, you can check by getting office copies from the land registry
• Thanks for your replies guys. It was definitely a joint tenants mortgage.
• A mortgage is always 'joint and several liability'.
  The mortgage is irrelevent to the way in which you own the house - they are totally separate issues.