Second marriage and wills

Hi Lynker - you will be able to sort everything but you must seek legal advice. I know people in similar situations who have sat down and told all the 'children' what will happen so there are no surprises. It's also very worth while for 'second timers' to have a prenup (or even postnup) in place to protect assets and children. Hope this helps and you get everything sorted

As you have roughly equal assets, I think neither would win any contested will (things may have changed, but I think if one of you is financially dependent on the other, it could be different). I believe that so long as you both have new wills made up stating clearly that this is in consideration of the new marriage and/or after the marriage, you can both leave your assets as you wish. But if in doubt check with a solicitor (you should be able to get free initial advice, only paying if you take the matter further).

Unfortunately, where money is involved you can't trust anyone! Or at least that's what I've discovered. For that reason my partner and I are still unmarried after 16 years together and we keep all our assets completely separate so that they will just pass to our respective children when we die. Wild horses couldn't drag me into a second (and in his case third!) marriage!

Sorry, but in addition to what happens when you die you do also have to think about what happens to your assets if you divorce. Couples who are happy and trust each other now may not be in this situation at some point in the future. I have seen several situations where the children of a first marriage end up losing out on their inheritance because assets which belonged to their parent become joint assets during a second marriage and then go to an ex on divorce to be enjoyed by their new wife or husband. Older men often have another set of children with a younger wife too, so assets you thought were yours can end up with those children and not your own kids.

GrandmaMoira, if the property was in trust it should make provision for easy downsizing. The property is owned half by the survivor and half by the trustees. If you wanted to downsize both parties would sell and then buy a new property again owning half each. Assuming this released capital, half would be yours to do with as you will, half would be in the trust to invest or pay out to the stepchildren.

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.

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.

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.

Stansgran excellent point and yes care fees may take all.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

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.

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.