Do not want SD getting my money if I die

[Preparefortheflaming]

I’m fully prepared to be flamed for this. I have an adult step daughter who doesn’t like me and the feeling is mutual. I have 2 DC with my husband. I stand to inherit some money from my parents eventually and I want to make sure that the money from my family does not pass through to my step daughter. This means if I die before my husband I think I need it to go directly to my 2 DC. Is that how it’s done? This is what I want and I don’t care for opinions on how wicked I am I just want to know how is best to do it. Thanks

You can leave a life interest in something to someone, then, when they die it passes to the beneficiary.

Usually for property ie leave a life interest to a spouse but on their death it passes to another person. They never have ownership of it, so they can't leave it to anyone else.

Oo I’ve also been told that if you do want to leave somebody out in this sort of situation, it’s far better to leave them a token amount (£5? £100? £1000?) and even a token item of yours (cheap bit of jewellery you’re not fond of) in the will and the reasons for doing so in the will itself. So that it is very clear that it’s not an oversight by you but a very deliberate action and that there are reasons for it. This should make it much harder for her to challenge or for your dh to challenge on her behalf. A real solicitor will obviously be needed to draw everything up properly.

A will ain't worth shit if you die first. You can't cut your spouse out, irrespective of what your will says the spouse is the default and rightly so.

Yes you fucking can in England - testamentary freedom and all that

You need advice from a solicitor and a will.

If you have children and die without a will, it’s not true that everything goes to your husband- it’s the first £450k or £250k of your estate and then your children. I’m not sure what counts as children.

I think you can cut people out of your will - even your spouse - but they may be able to fight it afterwards if they had an expectation of being maintained by you and can apply to the court for something. It depends on the circumstances as to whether your SD would ever be able to.

No flaming needed. Also if it is a large amount of money considering asking parents to leave directly to children rather than to you so that you don’t pay IH tax twice. But being marriage gives a threshold benefit etc.

You need legal advice. I think April is wills month and there is a push on cheaper wills/ advice? Anyway a couple of hours of advice will be so worth it. Legal advice isn’t just for rich people- just call or email your local high street lawyer and have a chat with them.

Ignore any advise given in this thread except for those who say to see a solicitor. That is what you need to do, as soon as possible.

You need to talk to a solicitor and explain the situation and they will sort it out for you. They will have dealt with this type of thing before.

You need to go to a solicitor.
Do it asap.

Make a will with a professional.
Include a token amount for SD so that it is obvious she has not been forgotten and try to contest it.
What you tell your husband is up to you.

Go and see a solicitor and preferably one who is STEP qualified. Not a Will writer!!

There is so much misinformation here. About the intestacy rules. About the ‘provision for dependents’ Act also.

You will likely be informed that your parents settle your inheritance on trust for you / your direct children, with a letter of wishes that you are primary beneficiary when alive. On your death the trust may default to them absolutely, but while you are alive capital and income can go to you. You and another person could be trustees but not your husband and ideally an independent professional person with a firm resolve.

Frang- same thing happened to a friend. It's devastating sorry to hear this.

I would suggest that both you and your parents consult a good solicitor. It is much harder to write a valid will than most people realise and trusts also give rise to various problems. If your parents have a large estate you will also need to consider your tax planing options. While it is possible to challenge a will it’s unlikely that your husband let alone your step daughter would succeed if you have swell drafted will. However, a challenging will be expensive for your estate and will drag out probate. If it’s possible I would strongly suggest you start passing on your wealth now. This is both beneficial in ensuring that your money goes where you want it to go and it provides a tax benefit.

I agree about consulting a solicitor and also about leaving a token amount/unloved jewellery item to SD.

My uncle inherited all his property and money from my grandparents. He was unmarried and childless. When he died he left it all to 1 sibling and a token amount ( less than 100 pounds) to the remaining siblings (including my DM) which meant they couldn't contest.

It was devastating for the family, like frangipanes situation above, but your situation is different. You rightly want to protect your children's inheritance Does your SD have a mother / wider maternal family from whom she might inherit, even if it's nominal (this is the angle to take with your DH.)

You and your husband need to have your assets drawn up so that you are partners in common for your property if you own.

This will divide your property 50/50 you can then leave your share of the house to your children, he can then leave his to your children and his Daughter too.

In regards to the money, you need to stipulate who you want to leave it to. I would assume if you put it into an account in your sole name and said contents of x bank account to be divided by and child 1 and 2 should be fine.

@FrangipaniBlue. . Jeez. How are you?

@Preparefortheflaming
Op, if your DH died first and left everything to you, would You still leave nothing for his daughter?
Because that’s a dick move.

That's devastating Frangipan .

Your own family set up sounds pretty miserable op. How long have you been with your dh? Unless your sd is an absolute monster you're going to come out of this looking rather gruesome ... but then, as you say, you don't care about that.

I don’t see an issue with this. My younger half brother and sister inherited their grandad’s house upon their mothers and then his death, so c£350k each, it was to be held in trust until they are 25. Fairly simple for solicitor to arrange I think.

My other sister and I have no issue with this. If we were to inherit anything from our mother’s side of the family (we won’t, but the point still stands) I don’t suspect our other siblings would be offended.

You can create a trust in your will so the money goes to your husband for the remainder of his lifetime and then to your children when he dies. Or you can leave the money directly to your children. Or as someone has suggested, you can create a trust for your children until they come of age. Speak to a lawyer as the wording on trusts is very important.

You are more likely to outlive your husband. So what will you do with his money? If you don't talk together, that is not fair as he might assume you are leaving money to each other and then splitting it equally between the children of both

It's really common for a will to give a life interest in half of house to spouse and then it goes to biological children, so you could both do this? (This type of will costs more to be written but obviously you wouldn't try and write one yourself!!!)

I'd think about divorce as well though. How would you protect your assets then? If it's a lot of money it might be worth advice on this as well. A trust? A variation to the will/change will to leave money direct to grandchildren?

I don't understand all these people saying you can just leave your spouse out of your will in England. Under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act, if you are living with your spouse when you did and you do that, they can apply to the courts on the basis that the will doesn't make reasonable provision for them, and a spouse would stand a very good chance of getting the provisions changed. What is reasonable is not necessarily what they need for maintenance, but what is a fair division.

As everyone else says, you need to sort this out through a solicitor who knows what they're doing.

Why do you think that Judy?

I agree, it's done with legal advice, not written on a bit of paper by op herself, but people do it all the time so it obviously is possible. The solicitor makes it possible and it's usually very easy to do so.

Leave a will. My dad unfortunately trusted my step mum. She took everything for herself and her two children from a previous marriage, which included my grandmother's flat that my gm had lived in for almost 60 years. She had it put in her name, sold it and bought herself a holiday home in Spain. My dad and nan had only ever said by word and not will that the flat was for my sibling and I so we would have something to fund university etc, but he never got round to doing a will.

Don't worry though, his daughter won't get your money. Even if you didn't leave a will it would go to blood children first through marriage, seeing as she's old marriage she's therefore not important to law and only your dc count.

Inheritance Act claims depend on the circumstances - eg was the surviving spouse financially dependent on the deceased and was any provision that was made in the will reasonable.

I don't think OP wants to exclude her husband entirely from her will though. She wants any specific inheritance she receives from her parents to go to her children; which a good solicitor can help with.

You need a financial adviser and a will, it could all go horribly wrong otherwise!

Why do you think that Judy?

Because that's what the Act says? A spouse or civil partner who claims under the Act is entitled to such financial provision as is reasonable in all the circumstances, whether or not that provision is necessary for their maintenance.