DH left me NOTHING in his will – devastated and fuming

She is not obliged to consult the older children or obtain their "buy in." She is not accountable to them.

It won't be everything, likely intestate rules so you'll get the majority but they should still get a substantial sum.

Marriage is a legal contract and this is how our laws currently work. It's not the OP's fault. Their father chose to confer these rights by marrying her.

It’s irrelevant how you would feel. This is just what happens when people remarry and have second families. Of course the wife and kids inherit the home they live in.

In that circumstance the person has to make separate provision in their will for the first family.

Honestly OP, if I was one of his children from his 1st marriage I’d be pretty peed off if his younger second wife inherited the house I had grown up in, which she hadn’t paid for. It would be a huge kick in the teeth.

Yes that's why I said a share of the house, which was their dad's originally.

Yes, just been looking it up - the amounts have changed since I last looked it up, I think, or I misremembered. Had completely forgotten that the spouse gets an additional half after that amount. Hopefully that is enough for OP to be certain that her house is secure for her children.

Having been in a fairly similar situation, solicitors tend not to give ethical advice or discuss what's fair. IME lawyers will only advise on the legality of a situation and protect their client's interests.

No. Spouse gets the first £322k. Plus all personal possessions. If the estate is worth more than £322k 50% of anything over that goes to the spouse, the remaining 50% is split between biological or adopted children. So for an estate worth 400k for example the spouse inherits 322k + 39k (half of the residual 78k). Children share the remaining 39k

@LittleBigHead ethically you can’t disinherit your spouse. That’s why there’s legislation in place for when people do so. You might think that you can leave everything to your kids but if that leaves your husband or wife with nothing then it’s likely they’ve got a good claim under The Inheritance Act. The laws of intestacy have decided what’s legally fair already. The inheritance Act does the same for when there is a valid will leaving out the spouse.

Don’t forget that she can also child support through his estate.

He died intestate, so his adult children got their share of his estate, as per English law. The pension was a completely separate matter: only a dependent was able to inherit the pension, so that lasted until his youngest child graduated.

ETA The only person who got nothing from his estate was his partner of 16 yrs. They were engaged but he died before the wedding could take place.

Assuming no valid will (and you are in England or Wales) you are entitled to the first £322,000 of the estate and all of you DH’s personal possessions (regardless of value) as well as half of the remaining estate over the initial £322,000 and then the remaining amount will go to the children.

This is all set out on the www.gov.uk website (type in Intestacy and it will take you to the right bit). Your wish to check with a solicitor is a reasonable one though.

💐 I’m sorry for your loss

I think that you need to work out with your solicitor what is fair to his older DC. There were clearly substantial assets before you married him, and ethically, you can't disinherit his DC, even though his carelessness has done so. It may also depend upon what assets you brought to the marriage, and what asserts or finance you contributed during the marriage.

Talk to an experienced family lawyer, and get buy in from his older children. Otherwise they'll be tempted to appeal the probate/intestacy, on the grounds of his existing will.

Something like apportioning it so that on your dearth (sorry), all the DC from both marriages, inherit an equal amount.

All your DH's children have lost their father - that needs to be remembered.

Apologies @Tiswa you are correct - monies in joint accounts go to surviving spouse. Will go and get my DH to add my name to those…🤣

Yes, without her name on the title deeds or a will, then the house goes into the pot: but she gets the first 325k, so she would either need to sell the house to take her share or get a mortgage for £75k to buy the estate out of the remaining portion (the £75k would go in the pot and be shared).

Alternatively, when distributing the remaining assets [above £325k] between the children, should there be £37,500 per child remaining, OP could request that the children’s share of the inheritance is taken in the form of the remainder of the house. A trust would be set up, and the land registry title deeds would show that 75/400ths of the value of the house is held in trust for OPs children so that she cannot sell or raise a mortgage against their portion at any stage.

Surely you just tell the adult dc the truth he died without a will and that legal advice is being sought and it is likely to go through intestate

joint accounts are rjngfenced as is the first 322k then the rest to be split between the children with a 40% tax bill to spend

The problem with the house is it’s in his name, intestacy from what I can see on citizens advice doesn’t apply to joint accounts, and rightly so.

OP says she and her late husband thought of their assets as jointly owned but in legal terms the house wasn't (it was in her husband's sole name) so the savings and investments may not be in joint accounts either. I know what she means. My husband and I also regard all our assets as jointly owned but for tax reasons they're not all in joint names. However, we both have valid wills and our house (biggest asset) is indeed in joint names.

If his older dc haven’t been apprised of the lack of updated will, they’ll probably assume you and your joint dc are set to inherit, as most people would. Therefore they aren’t likely to be hounding you for cash/to sell. Anything for them will be a nice bonus (hopefully). Please do as you say and go get advice asap. I’m sorry for your loss.

I’d urge everyone to sort out their wills. You never know the hour or the day.

do you also want to leave a proportion to his adult children because they will be liable for inheritance tax as well if he does it this way at a massive 40%

if he left it to you and you were happy
to leave an agreed proportion to them inheritance tax won’t need to be paid until the estate reaches a million

jnheritance tax for the kids will be due here as well and that includes one suspects the amount for the children the OP has as well so she will need to get that sorted

No, I think she will be able to take half? The rest goes in the pot…

I believe she said the savings were in joint names so she will likely retain those as they are not his to pass on as they belong to them both.

Then you may lose out. Under intestacy you are only entitled to the first £325,000 of his estate (which may or may not cover the value of your shared home if it is not in joint names on the title deeds); everything else be it £1 or £10m is divided equally between his children. You may also lose out as a group because the legal costs f court hearings etc come out of that money, making the pot smaller still.

It is always best to do a will and make clear how you wish things to fall to your heirs and spouse. No one needs to know about it in your life time, so to avoid sorting this out is both cowardly and negligent if you actually love those you are leaving behind.

This is how I understand it - wife will get the first £325k and then everything else is shared between his surviving children, so, the 75k residual value in the house and any savings will be split evenly, I think?

If there is enough, it may be that OP’s Dcs can have their share of the estate in the form of the remaining value of the house and have it put into a trust so that OP and her children keep their home. The rest/anything her DC’s inherit above £75K would have to go into trust funds because they are under 18.

So OP is unlikely to lose her/the DC’s home, I think, but there will be no money left over to live on, so she will need to look to work (if she doesn’t already) and apply for UC etc to top up?

It’s not ideal, but it’s not the dire circumstances she was facing at the start of this thread. Which reminds me…. My DH hasn’t done his will either.

(Having said that, I'm not a lawyer, but surely any lawyer, of any specialism, would have been able to confirm to the OP that in English law a will drawn up long before a marriage would no longer be valid. Several hundred MNers knew this, after all, and have all posted to prove it ...)