Wills and second marriage.

My grandfather left everything to his second wife. My mother even had to persuade her stepmother to give her father's watch to his son, her brother.

There was a post on here a few weeks ago, the lady wanted to change her will and leave to her family, although before her husband died, they both agreed and done a will to split the will equally between their families. So yes it does happen, often as well, so go see someone and make sure you sort this.

My advice get a solicitor. I was widowed at 34 remarried 42 withball the promises in the world that he would look after me. Our home together was 3/4 paid by me he decided at ripe old age of 71 he no longer wanted to be married and walked of with 1/2 of everthing. My solicitor said I should have had a prenup my 2 girls from first marriage are also losing out on inheritance from what their dad left us. His solicitor even suggested he would get some of my pension left from first marriage we fought that one. Take care as someone else saud you don't know whats around the corner. Xx

The advice to see a solicitor is overwhelming and better to do it soon. Also, after getting the solicitor's help, tell your children what will happen when you die. They are probably hesitant to ask - it doesn't sound good or loving to ask about inheritance, but they are very likely to be concerned. Do not let that concern become the elephant in the room.

Don't worry about the joint tenancy/tenancy in common issue as that can be easily sorted out and a good solicitor who does both Wills and Family Law will give you really helpful and comprehensive advice about how to achieve a completely fair outcome. For this to work, you do need to be clear together first about your intended outcomes and you will be advised to even think carefully about possessions and family heirlooms as it is often those which lead to a complete breakdown in the family afterwards. It is NEVER a good idea to have one executor from each side of the family so you need to think as well about appointing independent executors who will act fairly for everyone involved. Trust me, I'm a lawyer!

Yes, see a solicitor. There are also considerations such as one of you needing to go into a care home in later life.

Because our children were quite young still when we married (his daughter 11 my son 9) and we went onto have three more children we’ve got mirror wills, leaving all to each other, then split 5 ways.

When I inherited from my mum, I gave her biological grandchildren a sizeable sum each, and my step-daughter a piece of her jewellery and her son, our grandson a few hundred pounds for his savings account.

I do have a very good friend though, who lost her husband in 2016, after 35 years of marriage. She now has a new partner, they live in her house, she has two adult children as does ge, I told her so many times to remake her Will and make it watertight, I believe she done this, giving new partner the right to stay in the house for 6 months then it reverts to her two children. Most of her money came from her husband as she didn’t work for many years during children’s childhood and her husband was the senior partner in a GP practice.

My advice, following others, is see your solicitor asap

A joint tenancy can be severed by one party to create a tenancy in common, but without your husband’s agreement it can only be 50/50. You should really have set up a tenancy in common when buying the house, reflecting your contribution to the price.

We are joint tenants. Sounds like that’s going to be a problem. x

You must get a solicitor to prepare your will. Don’t try to do it yourself - your situation, whilst not unusual, is too complex for a home made will. Don’t rely on any assurance by your husband that he will look after your children - he could remarry, he could lose mental capacity - and if he were to die without a will which reflects your wishes, they are not related to him and are not entitled to inherit from him. So go to a solicitor and try to encourage your husband to do likewise, but if he refuses then ignore him and get your own will made. Leave nothing to chance - life can change in an instant and good intentions are gone.

Get good legal advice and rewrite your wills accordingly

I was a tenant in common for this very reason. We were not married but I don't see why you can't do this if you are married.

I would do it sooner than later and it has nothing to do with what your husband may or may not say. You are protecting your children's interests here which could easily be taken from them. He does not have a crystal ball.

The difficulty may be in getting him to agree, which may not be easy as he doesn't seem to see your side here, or give you reassurance.

You really need to seek legal advice pretty quickly.

I hope it gets sorted for you.

The father of someone we knew in Suffolk - in his 80s - remarried after his wife's death. He didn't do a will but said that
wife number 2 would"do the right thing" She didn't. She inherited everything and gave his children nothing.

Carenza123

All too often you hear of widowers remarrying and their new wives get left the house. See a solicitor asap.

This x 100. It must be made watertight.
Even if a man who remarries fully intends to follow his former wife’s wishes, and honestly believes that he will, there’s always the danger of dementia, and of someone taking advantage of it.

I know of a case where this happened. Dementia was bad enough to need a live in carer, but as yet undiagnosed. Very clever ‘carer’ manipulated him into marrying her and changing his will entirely in her favour, and it was a substantial estate.

The family contested it, but because the dementia had been undiagnosed and the ‘carer’ was so clever and plausible, she won.

Are you "joint tenants" or "tenants in common"? You would have made the choice when the property was registered after purchase, the financial split should also be recorded.
If joint tenants your husband inherits on your death, and you his.
If tenants in common you can leave your share to whoever you name in your will, they will have the right to live in the house but need to agree with your husband to sell it.
If it's tenants in common you can make a will and need no input from husband
If it's joint tenants you have a problem
See a solicitor, it's a common dilemma and the will should be straightforward.
Also set up Power of Attorney if you haven't already.

All too often you hear of widowers remarrying and their new wives get left the house. See a solicitor asap.

You need to sort this out asap and need good lrgal advice, Amansajs

When one of us dies, half of our house will be left to our 2 daughters, it will be registered at the Land Registry.
If the house gets sold then the girls will have to agree and they will either get their money out, allow the one who remains to move into another house, or to stay in this house until either of us die too. It does mean that they will have to wait for their inheritance though.

Our Solicitor worked it all out for us.

We had 2 friends who died, their husbands both remarried and left the houses to their new wives.

We hope we’ve done enough to thwart this!

GSDM will be along later, hopefully she will say we’ve done it properly! If not we can change it as we have to change them anyway due to a change in our circumstances.

You need sound legal advice and do it sooner rather than later.

There are a couple of knowledgeable legal eagles on this site, but I’m sure they’d make the same suggestion.

It’ll be money well spent.