Inheritance

It would depend on the wording in the will surely? I would say that if the money is inherited by a person then it becomes their own money.

How money is divided within a relationship is probably a different matter as we all have our own way of dealing with thing - joint account, separate accounts etc.

I would say that it belongs to the person who inherits it. I don't know what the situation is if they then put it into a joint account - presumably it is then considered to be half-and-half, but perhaps not.

What soupy said

I do know that anything inherited before marrying is not considered to be part of shared estate.

I took legal advice on this a long time ago and was told very firmly by a solicitor that it became part of the estate to be divided equally. I have never been sure whether that was correct because I didn't test it in court. However it made me very sad and also angry, that a person can leave a will, naming someone, who might then have to share their inheritance with someone else.

I'm sure the laws in England and Wales might differ from those in Scotland.

When in the process of divorce, my ex asked how much I might expect to inherit from my father, who was then still well and truly alive. Even his daft solicitor told him not to be such an idiot. I never told my dad that one because he might have gone apoplectic and hastened his demise.

That's bad and sad in my opinion nightowl

Sadly I know the answer to this one. A married friend and her husband lived with her mother and my friend took care of her until her death. On the day that probate came through my friend's husband left her (it was a complete and utter shock) for a woman he'd been having a secret affair with. He got a half share of the estate and my friend had to sell her home.

That's what I understand too GA. My sister's ex tried to claim that the money she shared from his mother's will was unfair or he should get a claim in her mother's will. It made my mother take action so this wouldn't happen before the decree absolute & vowed to live longer than that to be sure. She's still going strong 14 years on.

Views on the rights and wrongs of this depend very much on which side of the fence you are.Someone intimately aquainted with me is waiting to decide about the state of his marriage as his very old fashioned and rigid Father would probably leap a generation with his estate.So a not very satisfactory state of affairs continues.

I think that if someone ie let's say a mother, left a will saying that after a few small legacies she left the remainder of her estate to her only child and named that person, then her wishes would be very clear. How anyone else could then think they had a right to half a share in this is beyond me. In my view that is the case whether or not the couple in question separate or stay together. They are still individuals. Sadly the law seems to view things differently.

When I first was starting to think about a divorce twenty odd years ago and went to see a solicitor one of the questions she asked me was if I would be likely to inherit anything. When I said yes she told me to get divorced ASAP as any inheritance would have to be shared with my first husband if we were not divorced even if we were separated.

If only things were always black or white nightowl.Individuals invest varying amounts in a marriage and sometimes that should be taken into account but the law does not .I am not talking monetary investment here.

I agree annsixty. But I do think as a general principle that a person has an absolute right to leave their property to whoever they wish. If they name that person, and are of sound mind, then in my view that should be the end of it. Even if its the local cat's home.

If the couple have split up but are NOT divorced at the time of the parents death then the ex husband gets a legal half share. I know this because I have looked into it on behalf of DD1.Also, if your DD then died, he would get everything that she owned [if there were no children.]

It sounds as if you have concerns over this. Me, I would make sure I had my own bank a/c and when the money came in I would take it out and keep it in cash.
The biggest amount of cash that I have seen is £50,000 and it's surprising how small it looks. But that's just me.

I think that it is true, unfortunately.

Keeping that amount of money in cash is daft. I would say go and see a solicitor. They often don't charge (or don't charge much) if you are writing a will as they hope to make the money as executor after you've gone.

Better to keep it in cash than share it with someone who has no moral right to it IMO.

Not possible for us to judge who is, and who is not entitled to what. We don't know the circumstances.
It is possible that the OP is the spouse of someone who expects to inherit?

Or maybe is concerned about her own inheritance becoming a marital asset?

My former brother in law went to great lengths to avoid having to give his estranged wife any of the money he would have inherited from his mother, to the extent he asked his mum to leave his share to his girlfriend in her will...

What if girlfriend then went off with someone else - or just off to the Caribbean? Risky!

Quite! She had teenage children of her own, as well...never did find out what happened in the end!