Op this happened to me. I married 23 yrs ago , a man who had only debts. I had a home,which i sold and used as a deposit on our married house. We divorced some yrs later and he basically got half of everything as i was higher earner.
I rebuilt my life and then met someone else and " ring fenced" all my assets. Just as well as we separated 15 yrs later. All my ring fenced assets are now safe for my DC to inherit and i easily rebuilt a life. My DC's ( 2 boys ) have witnessed this and are aware that their inheritance is now also ring fenced,meaning if they marry, any money they bring into marriage ( my money passed down to them) is ring fenced. Any subsequent money and house equity my DC's accrue with their spouses is of course shared, but, my DC's know that the money they receive from me and the money they accrue through their own successes, before marriage, is their own and not shared ,if relationships fail.
My exes and i have all just spent over £3k combined, protecting our joint finances and properties for our shared boys. Any of us remarry, what we have as of todays date ( date of any possible marriage) is not avail or brought forward into new marriage.
We had an incident 2 yrs ago where my first husbands grandfather died. He had remarried after the death of much beloved grandmother. A long marriage where DGM had worked her finger to the bone to provide for her one and only son, my ex father in law. DGMinL passed and GDinlaw remarried , his 35 yrs younger " carer". GDinL did not amend his will and new wife and her 3 children inherited the lot . Not even married a year. Dear FIL ( son of DGMIL) was not even allowed into the house to retrieve DGM's personal effects and her beloved perfume bottles. His own mothers personal effects . Yes, stupid GDinL but cautionary tale. DGM perfume bottles are somewhere now in Birkenhead.
Myself and my exes are determined our children will be protected and the money and properties we have earned, acquired and worked hard for , will benefit them and only them and in turn their children and only their children. This experience and my early experience , that DH1 now sees , he benefitted from, has made us all revaluate all our assets and our DC's futures.
Our now grown DC's are more wise and grateful their inheritance is ring fenced. Anyone who enters into a relationship with my DC's will be aware of this. Our properties will not be theirs and their future prosperity will be determined by their own endeavours as ours has been acquired by us.
We all 3 parents grew up in council housing. We now have a combined clear cash no debt wealth of £900k for our sons to inherit. All our mothers and grandmothers worked as cleaners , caterers , sch dinner ladies, tea ladies and typists, since the 1930's until the late 90's. Their efforts and investment in raising us, have led us to achieve this .
We now pass this on to their grandchildren and great grandchildren. Every asset in this family is protected. Any successful and independent young woman who enters our family will already have her own assets and secured her future. Should any marriage fail is a sadness and my sons would support appropriately .
But, to think that the 3 combined homes of us parents and our savings and investments would transfer 50% to wives when we leave this mortal coil, no.
All assets ring-fenced for our 2 sons, then their children in the form of a trust. It does cost a lot to arrange this. But, at least we know our family is protected.