Do ex partners have a claim on estates for CM payments?

[scarytom]

My partner and I are not married although we have a three yr old son together. My partner also has two children from his first (and only) short marriage, a daughter and a son (10 and 8) who we see and stay with us a lot of the time. We also (obviously) pay CM for both to their mum who is remarried with 2 further children.

We're going to be making wills soon - should have done this before as we own a house jointly and have resident and non-resident children.

Anyway, I was just wondering anyone knows what happens (obviously I'll be asking the lawyer but I'm curious) if he dies intestate a) if we are not married b) if we were married. Currently, he has no assets at all (apart from the equity in our home which I put up) whereas I have some (not huge) savings (I am a squirrel and have been since I can remember) and I wondered whether because he pays CM whether his ex-wife would have a claim against me for child maintenance if he died? Obviously, if he did die I would like to contribute and see the kids but because we both work FT to afford the mortgage/bills/childcare etc, this is not something I would be able to afford on my own if he died. Do ex partners have a claim on estates for CM payments going forward? Obviously if he died now, he would have no estate (as the house would pass to me - we own as joint tenants) so I presume not? but if we were married, would our assets (ie house equity) be classed as part of his estate and could I potentially have to pay out? I'm just anxious to avoid a situation (however unlikely) where if he died, I had to sell the house to pay child maintenance?

If anyone has any experience - much appreciated. Thanks.

[mumblechum1]

Whether your partner died intestate or did a will which didn't provide for his first children, they would have a claim against his estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975 if they were still financially dependent on him at the date of his death.

For that reason, divorced fathers will often put life insurance in place to cover child maintenance.

His ex wife, however, would only have a claim if she receives spousal maintenance, which reading your OP, I doubt.

As the house will pass to you under the joint tenancy, potentially the first children (via their mother) may make a claim and so if there's no savings or life insurance in place now (and he may have a death in service benefit which would cover all the children), it would be sensible to get some quotes for short term insurance purely to cover the maintenance.

If you want any more info, feel free to PM me. (I'm a will writer)

[scarytom]

Thanks very much for your prompt reply!

Very useful indeed. There is no spousal maintenance. It just seems odd that the children could claim against me for my assets (the equity in the house was mine) if there's no insurance in place as surely if he became unemployed they wouldn't be able to claim against me for "lost maintenance" but if he died this would be different? And surely unemployment / lower salary could be a choice whereas death is usually not? By the way, I'm not trying to do the kids out of anything, just that I would not be able to afford to pay the maintenance if he did die. It's not like our son together would get any more/less than they did - they'd all lose out but the first two children can claim against me for cash which would further deprive child3. It's all far too complicated!

I hadn't considered death in service - he would be entitled to this and so this may solve some problems if he named all three children as beneficiaries (I'm currently named as beneficiary as we are interdependent. Could this stay the same and I could pay a lump sum to the kids?) - although in my field of work I know that Trustees are increasingly looking closely at the definition of "financially dependent" in these death in service cases. Would future maintenance be calculated at a fixed rate or would there be some assumption of increase over the years? Also, would it be expected that this would be paid out in a lump sum?

Thanks for your help and advice. Hopefully he/I won't die before the New Year when I hope to get this all sorted out.

[mumblechum1]

So far as any increase in mtce is concerned, the consent order within the divorce should, assuming that it covered child mtce, also have a clause that it increases either in line with inflation, or annually depending on what's on his P60, so that would have to be taken into account when sorting out any life insurance.

I know what you mean about the children claiming against "your" equity, however you have, as I understand it, effectively given him a share of the house if it's in joint names, so on the face of it it's joint equity.

As you say, the simplest way around the problem is to ensure some sort of provision from the death in service benefit, and if he leaves that job, put some insurance in to cover the remaining years.