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Perils of a second wife in Scotland if a new will is not made

(2 Posts)
Eleanorre Thu 07-Mar-13 10:05:06

This is a warning to second wives if your husband had been married before and made a will covering that marriage. In Scotland remarriage does not make the original will null and void as it does in England . So a man marries and has children he makes a will leaving all to his wife or if she has died his children. First wife dies and he gets everything . He remarries and then dies and the first will is still valid if he has not made a new one . Anything in joint names goes to new wife but there could be problems with other heritable cash etc. In my husbands family this happened to his step mum and the two sons were very generous and gave her far more than she was due. Should they have been under age by law their inheritance would have had to have been set aside for them.
Did you also know in Scotland it is impossible to cut children out of your will. No matter if a couple leave everything to each other the children can make a claim on the estate . They do not have to be dependant children as in England. This used to be called '' the bairns share ''. They cannot claim the house but can claim money. I only know one person who has done this out of spite really only to discover his father had left no money.

HUNTERF Thu 07-Mar-13 11:35:54

Hi Eleanorre

I am afraid problem situations can happen in England.
My parents split the ownership of the house into a Tenants in Common ownership and I got half of the house when my mother passed away.
If Dad had re married and took his second wife in to the house there could have been problems if he passed away first.
As far as I know she will inherit half of the house and I would have been entitled to mine.
If I wanted my half immediately on my father's death I presume the house would have had to be sold and the proceeds divided if the second wife had not been in a position to pay me off.
If somebody wants to marry in later life and the potential spouse owns a property which they will both live in a check should be done at the land registry to see if he / she owns it 100%.

Frank