Can you help me with my will?

[GiBlues]

I’m just going through the process of sorting out a will, and after seeing some of the threads on here especially about parents who have remarried I would like some advice on how to word what I would like.

If I die before DH I would like him to be able to stay in our house, however when the house is sold I would like my half to go to the children not to any new partner and her children. Is this something g I could do or is that just not possible?

Any other clauses etc to protect the children from having their inheritance taken from my half would be greatly received.

I had trouble with that when I made mine but I'm in Scotland and the law is different. I couldn't afford to set up a trust for the children which is what I was advised I would have to do. I'll be watching this thread with interest.

I am just doing this. You need to change the ownership of your property to tenants in common. You then set up a discretionary trust that leaves yoyr half of the property in trust for the children whilst giving your dh the right to live in the property until he dies. I have also set ours up so he can move using the equity to another property but half the value of the house at the time of my death goes into the trust when he dies.

It cost me and dh 500 for mirror wills and the trust.

I think it will be that your half of the property will be held in trust for your children, and when the property is either sold or your DH dies it will then be for the benefit of your children.

As far as I understand it, this can only be achieved if you own as Tenants in Common which is unusual for married couples.

Usually you are joint tenants and therefore you both own all of the property, if that makes sense, so you can’t leave your half to anyone as your half also belongs to your DH.

Yes it’s very possible. Friend has married a man with adult DC. She has no Dc but nephews. The remaining spouse stays at the house as long as they live- or can move, but when they die the estate is split.

We’ve just redone our wills and I wanted to protect my estate from any possible future family my DH might have so our DC would benefit. There are trusts you can set up but to be honest it sounded complex and expensive so I have decided we need to just trust one another to do the right thing.

It’s worth getting the wills done professionally if you have worries or want the best possible security.

You need to ensure that you own the house as Tenants in Common so that you each own your share and can leave it to who you like, so get that sorted out at the solicitors.

Then draw up a will that leaves your share to your DC when DH either passes away or sells up.

My grandparents wills did that.

It’s not a question of trusting your dh...it’s a question of trusting anyone they then marry...plus trusting that they don’t change personalities with early onset dementia/accident etc.

We have our wills written so that each of our halves goes to dc in trust with dh able to stay in house until they want to sell - you do need to be tenants in common tho.

It’s exactly that Petra
I completely trust DH to do the right thing by the children, however if I dided and he did remarry and he then died, the entire house would go to his new wife and she could do whatever she liked with it leaving my children with nothing.

I’ve seen a few threads about that happening and it’s devastating for the children.

You might want to consider the impact of inheritance tax if you directly leave it to anyone other than your DH. In our case he'd need my pension and savings to raise our DS, so I can't directly pass it down. We have mirror wills, but we've also explicitly discussed that if I die first, I want all my share left to my DS even if he has other children subsequently.

We have life insurance that’s runs until the youngest is 18 that would make sure either of us would be financially stable and the mortgage would be paid off also, but I hadn’t thought of inheritance tax

The solicitor who is drawing up your will should be advising you on this.

It's perfectly possible to do what you've said.

Thanks for the replies I’ve got an idea of what to ask for now