Inheritance planning

[Vigg1984]

We have 2 DC and a DSD.

How could I plan that if anything happened to me, our house value and assets would still go to our 3 children and not to a new lady if he ever remarried? DH always said he would never want to remarry... but doesn't everyone!

Or AIBU to even worry about this?
I have heard from a family member of this happening and I would just hate for our children to be left with nothing after what I have helped worked for and build for them!

Lots of women leave their husband / partner their half of the house , or at least the right to live in it as long as they wish.

Then if tragedy strikes and she dies, the children can end up living with her parents ( their maternal grandparents ) while he lives in what used to be their house with his new partner. Meanwhile the children can’t get access to the value of half the house to pay for their education etc.

So if you die when you are 40 and your kids are 5 and 7, your widower could live in the house for 50 years with his new wife and kids. And your children won’t get what you left then until they are 55 and 57 years old.

People draw up these wills thinking they will die at 88 and don’t want their 90 year old husband having to sell the house to give money to his adult kids, having brought them up.

But it doesn’t always work out that way.

Is the law the same in Scotland i wonder?

My mother in law just died. She had a partner. He keeps his 50% of the house. She left her 50% to her children. Her partner can stay in the house until he dies. If he sells he has to give half to her children. Everything else she had money wise in her name went to her children. All we did was our my husband and his sister on the land registry entry.

Thank you for your replies!

It's great to hear the different options and experiences. Obviously I hope this will be a long long time off but you never know so it's better to be prepared 🤞🏼

@ssd

Is the law the same in Scotland i wonder?

No of course Scots Law is not the same as English Law. Or French law. Or the law in the USA. They are different legal systems.

sp-bpr-en-prod-cdnep.azureedge.net/published/2019/4/24/Inheritance-law-in-Scotland/SB%2019-23.pdf

Thanks for that link but its a bit of a read!

My dad left his house to me with proviso his wife could live in it as long as she wanted as long as she maintained it and paid costs. Not sure of legal language but just entailed trip to solicitor to make the will and didn't cost much.

Also remember if circumstances change you can write a new will. Obviously you don’t need to do this every year but every 5-10 years it’s worth reviewing your wills. For simple changes add a codicil again using a solicitor.