Second marriage and wills

I'm not an attorney, but I think you (general) can name anyone you want in your will. But I suppose it's possible that he could contest your will after your gone, if you die first, and vice versa if he does. I don't know if either of you would win in those cases - a lot depends on the laws where you live. But hopefully, you can agree on this and trust each other to honor the decision later on.

Another idea would be for you each to put your assets in trust for your respective children, wherever possible. That way, again depending on the laws, they would probably go straight to your children when you pass (or his when he passes), w/o having to go through probate and so on.

A third possibility is to start giving out some of your assets - you to your 2 kids, he to his - while you're still alive, if possible.

To make this easier, I think it would be best if you and DH kept most of your assets separate. If there's a house you own together or something, that might be more complicated.

Hopefully, posters more knowledgeable about these issues than I will soon be in here...

You should make sure your home is registered as tenants in common, not joint tenants. If you own it jointly all of it will pass to the survivor on first death and then pass under the survivor's Will (possibly to just their children or to a new spouse if they remarry). Tenants in common own a share (in your case half) each. You then need a Will including a property trust or flexible life interest trust which allows the survivor to carry on living in the property although half is now owned by the trustees. If properly drafted it will also allow for downsizing.

On the second death the half in trust can pass to your children and the other half under the survivor's Will. You can also put your own savings and investments into the trust or into a discretionary trust, so the survivor gets the income from them for their life, put the capital eventually passes to your children.

Mirror Wills incorporating trusts should cost around £400-500 plus VAT.

Thank you for your replies. The house we live in is mine and my husband has 2 properties in his name that he rents out. I am now thinking about putting my property, savings and investments into a trust for my children. If my husband also puts his properties, savings and investments in a trust for his children, would that be a simple way of making sure that our children inherit what is rightfully theirs? (and preventing either my husband or myself spending each others money on potential new wives/husbands!!) Are such trusts expensive to manage and would it be difficult for the children to access their inheritance at the end of the day? Sorry for all the questions......it is a bit of a minefield out there!

My husband and I own our house as tenants in common. His proportion of the house will go to his children and my proportion to mine. We have said to all our children that we have done this to protect their inheritances but the surviving partner must be well treated by the other's children.
All the savings in my name go straight to my daughters and my husband's to his. We just have a joint account for household bills.

Liz that sounds to me like a very simple solution without all the complication of trusts. I have suggested something similar to my husband in the course of our discussions on this issue, but he thinks that doing what you have done, means that I don't trust him enough to treat my children fairly, should I die first. He believes that husbands should leave all their estate to their wives and vice versa....I want to leave my assets to my children, not my husband who doesn't need them. I would be happy for him to remain in my house for as long as he wanted.

I have had this discussion with friends. Say you died first, your husband inherited your house and money and then he remarried. His new wife's children could get your money instead of your own children.

That is exactly what I am worried about. I just need to persuade my husband that doing what you have done would be a simple and effective way of ensuring that our children inherit what is rightfully theirs. Thank you for your comments.

There is a mention in our wills that the surviving spouse can stay in the house but must maintain it properly etc.
I have said to my daughters that, if my husband should want to move, they should help him but keep a proportion of the new house in their names. We could trust them to do this.

There was another thread about this same subject just recently, here you go:
www.gransnet.com/forums/legal_and_money/1224333-Will-husband-is-step-parent-what-happens-if-he-remarries-or-cohabits

But what is rightfully the children's? I don't think the children should have or expect any rights to property belonging to their parents. Assuming anything in the way of inheritance is bad for them. And what about decent care home fees?

I think with the three properties involved you should get legal advice, it only cost us £300 to do both our wills and now we feel that everything is covered.

You really cannot do this without trusts. Not mentioning the property in the Will and setting up a trust would result in the half share owned by the first tenant in common to die passing under the law of intestacy, to the survivor rather than to his or her children.

Liz 46, it is not a question of trusting the children to do the right thing, it is a legal duty on the trustees to follow the Will/Trust. On first death the property should be registered at HMLR showing it is now owned part by the survivor and partly by the trustees. They should enter a Form A restriction to protect the trustees. If the survivor wants to move the house is sold jointly and the new one bought jointly by the survivor and the trustees. If any equity is released on downsizing, the survivor gets his share and the rest passes under the Will Trust.

Is there not an assumption in UK law that a spouse will inherit a protected sum ?

The law is so complex best seek legal advice.

Hi we have wills that leave anything we owned before we met to our children. Any money we have accrued together goes to survivor. My partner can stay in our present flat until his death. In addition to this last bit he can choose to leave flat And benefit from rents and move where he likes. The solicitor said it was not good to keep him tied to our home for the rest of his life.
The solicitor charged £75 for my will and my partner paid a similar amount to his.
We have also left a letter with the solicitors explaining the reason for our decisions which will help to make our wishes water tight.
The sums are not huge but just after we met I got cancer and my chances weren't good so. It was imperative to move fast. It's now ten years on and our arrangements seem OK ,fair to all of us.
Don't know if this is helpful but our children feel happy and so do we.

Radicalnan raises an interesting point. In England and Wales a person can make a Will leaving what they want to who they want, so could leave all their own assets to their children or whoever. However, certain classes of persons have the right to make a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 if they think "reasonable financial provision" has not been made for them in the Will. The claim should be made within six months of the grant of probate issuing.

The court can order periodic payments or a division of the estate. For a spouse/civil partner the starting point for the court is what they would have received on divorce, usually half of the joint assets. Children's claims usually only succeed if they were being financially supported at the date of death. If they are adult and earning, or capable of earning, their claim is unlikely to be successful.

A lot of valid points have been raised, and like other Grans Netters, I strongly advise you to seek legal advice regarding this issue. It could save a lot of heartache and expense later. These days solicitors have plenty of experience with "blended families", second marriages, step-children, multiple properties, etc and they will know the law. Neglecting to address this properly could mean a legal wrangle when the first one of you dies. (And, no I'm not a solicitor! And yes, we have made our own Wills!)

Do get good legal advice. The husband of a dear friend has just died without making a will. The situation is not straightforward, and compounds the shock and grief. Not helpful to anyone, least of all his widow.

I agree with everyone who said that you need a solicitor. We made a new joint will when my step son had his own children. The will include use of trusts etc and also goes in to power of attorney if either of us starts to go a bit 'doo lally', as my mother would say. Our wishes were quite straightforward but there are so many pitfalls I'm so glad we had a solicitor.

Obviously you need to get good legal advice, but I would be very wary of owning a house as tenants in common instead of joint owners. I got on well with my husband's family when he was alive but once he died they wanted everything that was his and items they'd given us as Xmas presents etc. If they'd inherited half the house, they would have tried to get me out of my own house, even though it was mostly funded by me not my husband. You never know how people will behave. You hear of second wives or husbands disinheriting their stepchildren but stepchildren can be equally bad.

Thank you all for your comments... it really is a minefield and we are going to seek legal advice. I hope to be able to find a way to leave my house and my savings to my children and from what has been said here, I think that will probably mean some kind of trust being set up., which I hope will not be too complicated or expensive to administer. I hope that my husband will do the same for his children. Thank you all again for your thoughts.

Stansgran excellent point and yes care fees may take all.

To address GrandmaMoira's point, it would take a court order to force the sale of a house held as tenant's in common, which is very unlikely to be granted if you are living there. If it was in trust and half eventually passes to the step-children they would not have a hope. They are not entitled to the return of items given as joint gifts and even gifts to their father would usually pass to you as chattels. Moira, if you owned the property jointly and you died first everything would pass to the step-children! Hoping the 'last man standing' will do the right thing if under pressure from his own children is a huge leap of faith.

Iaiancam Thank you for your advice. However, if we had been tenants in common it would be very difficult to downsize, which I want to do, as I want some cash in hand for house repairs, holidays, helping the grandchildren etc. and my pension's not stretching to all that. I'm guessing that if I sold the stepchildren could take some of their inheritance then if we'd been tenants in common. I would hate to be forced to stay in this big run down house because of that. I realised they weren't entitled to the items gifted to us but when you've just been bereaved you're not really fit to be assertive with difficult people.
I am Ok but wanted to warn other people of possible scenarios.

We are "second time rounders" and I have no children. But I have 2 stepchildren, both adults. One has a family of two lovely girls, our grand daughters. I consider all of them my own so they will all be treated as my own under the terms of my will.