DH left me NOTHING in his will – devastated and fuming

If the joint savings were in joint names they are yours - even if the will says otherwise - you can take the money

where’s she going to get the money to house herself when the children are 21?

Well shes got several years living rent free to save a deposit, then the money she earns from a job can pay a mortgage on a flat.

Op what a awful situation. I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this and on top of the grief.

Let us know what your lawyer says. Money can bring out the worst in others be kind to yourself

I corrected myself after this post - ops house isn’t jointly owned sadly.

BTW, on the matter of the joint savings, was the account in both your names or just his?

By the OP's own admission, she has no will, so if it had been the other way around her husband would have had a similar mess. I am amazed that they didn't get the house into joint names or make wills, both ideally, especially given that he had older children to provide for too. He'd been organised enough to make a will after the divorce. It should have been high on the priority list to make a new one to reflect his changed position after marrying again and having more children. Guardianship should also have been covered.

What happened after you got legal advice?

My partner didn't have a will at home. It was lodged with a solicitor. I assume you've contacted his solicitor by now and asked? Or checked other local solicitors?

What a mess. You have my deepest sympathy OP . You shouldn't have to be dealing with this on top of everything else.

“Yes, the house was from his first marriage, and his older children did grow up there. He kept it after the divorce”

It’s irrelevant what the children will inherit from their mother. What if she remarried and her second husband has the same attitude as OP?

He was their dad just as much as he is the younger children’s dad. They should get the same.

Again, “can” doesn’t mean “will”.

Again, not all second wives. Seconds wives where there are existing children.

How lovely

So his ex was left homeless with the kids on divorce? I doubt it.

so he’ll have had to buy her out at the very least. So only half the house was from the first marriage.

we’re all concluding something from nothing here. We don’t know what his ex got in the divorce, what the o/p has contributed to or not. Like I said to buy his ex out he may have had to remortgage, so it may be o/p has paid that off so why should she not be entitled to her share?

to say no second wife should ever inherit her own home is ridiculous.

what he should have done was left his half the house in trust for the kids so she can’t disinherit them. Too late now. O/p can rectify by leaving the house to the kids when she dies.

The house OP is currently living in was the family home. You’ve misread

You forget they will inherit a house off their mum as well, a house he likely paid for when they were married. As marital assets are split so if he got a house, his ex will as well.

she may be working by the time they are 21 but her career will have taken a massive hit being a lone parent with no partner and no support. Plus grieving children who will need their mum.

i believe in fairness and not leaving people homeless when they’ve contributed to a marriage and to a home. Who’s paying to maintain the house? Stop it deteriorating into a shell? She’d be better walking away now than paying upkeep for 20 years with nothing to show for it.

but yes, be brutal. Take her home and everything she’s worked for away from her because her husband had children before he met her. Who he’s already paid to raise, years of child maintenance and financially supporting them. Who’s going to financially support her kids?

You are completely wrong. On intestacy the wife gets the first £322k and 50% of everything else plus all personal belongings.

Our house is excluded from the estate because we own it as joint tenants.

Surely by the time they are 21 she will be working again.

I am not awful, I just believe in ring fencing. Where children have a relationship with a parent, it is children first.

So she should be left homeless facing retirement? To pay independent adults who have their own homes already?

after being a lone parent, raising their child, which will impact on her ability to work. With no CS either. Paying all the maintenance, any remaining mortgage, all the bills etc?

where’s she going to get the money to house herself when the children are 21? What if the children can’t afford to leave home on a quarter share? Where are they all going to live?

you’re an awful person if that’s what you think. Surprised you haven’t suggested she pays the children rent.

If a man or woman has children, it is only morally right that any assets are passed down to them. What is legal is entirely different, but children should not have to lose out because Mummy or Daddy has got a new "friend". Your husband actually sounds like a very moral man for thinking of his offspring which is so often not the case on here. I know it doesn't feel like it but he sounds pretty decent which is a rarity nowadays.

Not second wives. Second wives where there are existing children.

It needs much more consideration that it currently seems to. We should have much stricter legal requirements regarding this.

Hahaha! You really have no idea how wrong you are. Almost the very same scenario happened to my nephew and niece. Sister and her ex split up, she was screwed over and ended up having to move out into rented due to DV. Ex moved his GF in, then had another child. DSis died very suddenly when children were in late teens. They moved back in to the family home but the new wife made their lives unbearable. Their DF died when they were in their 20s, new wife kicked them out and as he had no will she ended up with everything.
Sometimes life can be pretty shitty and yes, the OPs husband should have made a will. But people cannot help their feelings, and the feeling of not being treated fairly by your own father.

I read it as he owned the house before they got together and had not subsequently put her name on the lease.

Does this apply to all sahm’s, regardless of marriage order?

don’t financially contribute to your home, it should be left to the kids, not you. So if you’re a sahm, or move into his house, you aren’t entitled to any of it?

or does it only apply to second wives? Funny that.

I read it as he owned the house before they got together and had not subsequently put her name on the lease. She should be able to live in it until their joint children are adults say 21 or 25. Then it should be sold and the proceeds split between all the children.

Even though there is an intestacy which has certain rules, The Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 can come into play which may allocate assets away from the normal intestacy rules. For example if there dependent children and they have a greater need than other beneficiaries. This is fairly specialist and I recommend OP consults a legal adviser who is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners for advice.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1975/63

Do you mean that she should be permitted to live in the house for the remainder of her life at which point the house would be sold and split between the children?

Or that she should be forced to move out immediately and the house sold and proceeds split between the children now? In which case the minor children would have to have it put in some sort of trust fund but simultaneously be rendered homeless as dependents?