Wills - Right to live in house for lifetime?

We considered this (the solicitor who drew up our wills suggested that we should think about it), but we decided against.

The deciding factor was that the surviving spouse might live long enough to have run out of cash. If this happened they would be unable to sell the house to pay for social care if needed, which would result in having to rely on council care, and probably being given the cheapest possible care available.

It could also mean that even without the need for care, the house wouldn't be properly maintained, thus reducing its value as inheritance for the children.

In the end, we decided that keeping control over our assets, jointly until one of us dies, then singly for the survivor, was the best way forward.

Oopsadaisy1, yes I'll definitely have a professional making my will! But I have yet to completely make up my mind what I want to ask for them to put in it until I know more about what it can lead to down the line. One thing that worries me is it imposes obligations on the surviving resident to maintain the property and therefore its value for the people who will inherit afterwards. What if my husband becomes disabled or something, or falls on hard times financially and it becomes a real worry and burden to him?

We did it some years ago, POAs done at the same time. Our Wills are quite complicated so it made sense to get a Solicitor to do it all at the same time.
However, we have made it a condition that if the surviving partner remarries and then dies, their spouse doesn’t get to stay in the house. Our Wills also specify Blood relatives only, so if one of our ACs predecease us (god forbid) it goes to their children and not their husbands, of course if that happened we hope to be in a position to alter our Wills.
Of course things might change but if they don’t our Wills are pretty well set in stone so anyone would have a fight on their hands if they tried to get around it.
Both DDs are aware of our Wills etc. and it’s all a bit more complex than sounds on here.
The best thing to do is to go to your Solicitors with a list of what you want to happen and then they will do it in a way that it all goes through smoothly when it needs to.
My Mum had a DIY will and it was a nightmare and expensive (for us in Solicitors bills) to get sorted.

Same here Peasblossom.

The two wills, 6 years ago, cost us £150 through a solicitor. Did our POA at the same time. They cost more.

OH and I have that arrangement. It didn’t need a trust. Just written into our respective wills. We told our beneficiaries when we did it so it won’t come as a surprise.

It was quite simple. The remaining partner is responsible for upkeep and expenses.