How to make the will fair

[Xanthe68]

A friend has asked for my advice-

A woman marries, she and her husband have two children, they work hard and are lucky and end up with a flat in London (approx £1.5m), a house in the country (similar) and investments of about £2m.

After a long happy marriage the husband dies. The woman inherits his share. 10 years later the woman begins a relationship with another woman- they live together and and they are very happy together for 5 years (and ongoing).

The woman wants to write her will. What should she do? All her wealth comes from the period of her marriage (both partners contributed) and was thought of as the children’s inheritance. But she’s worried about her new partner who doesn’t have much (not lazy- has worked hard all her life in a low paying profession).

WWYD? FWIW the children are very happy about their mum’s new relationship and it’s probable that the late husband would have been as well (based on how he was in life). Would you leave everything to the kids or something to the new partner? (Unmarried).

Very interested in how I can avoid IHT, single no children. All I can see is gifting money/property but that would be seen as deprivation of assets if I need care.

Really glad to read that legal advice is being taken

An aunt of mine was widowed at a young age and was quite well off. She never remarried but had a handful of live in partners over the years. When she died her DP had only known her for about 3 years but that didn’t stop the courts from awarding him half the value of her beautiful home, despite her having left a very clear Will leaving it to her kids. He claimed that he was financially dependent on her

If this was me I’d leave DP enough to buy themselves a decent property plus enough cash for them to live for a couple of years

Almost all the money to the children and only a small amount to the partner.

That would be deeply unfair on the kids, particularly as everything came from their parents marriage and half of what their mum has was inheritance from their dad. I would say max to the Girlfriend is 16.66% (50% split 3 ways). With sums like that, 16% is a pretty large chunk of money

Sorry quotes wrong post! Meant to quote purplemarie!

Maybe the property that they live in goes to partner and rest to kids?

Something like £200,000 - £300,000 for the new partner and all the rest for the kids. I wouldn't do the lifetime tenancy thing. It creates too many problems. I'd either buy a small property for the new partner or just leave some cash.

The very very most Id think would be ok would be 1/6 to the new partner based on the kids getting all of their fathers wealth and splitting their mothers wealth 3 ways but I think that's too generous to the new partner.

The friend would be well advised to seek legal advice on the will and to put a cohabitation agreement in place

Agree with this

With so much money, more than most of us can dream of, it should be easy to keep everyone happy.

a flat in London (approx £1.5m), a house in the country (similar) and investments of about £2m.

Ignoring inheritance tax as I don't know how that would work out, I'd say:

• leave the property the female partner lives in to that partner (1.5m). Or, let her live in it but the children own it, or own a share of it. Lots of options here.
• leave the other property and the money to the 2 kids (3.5m between 2 of them)

I'd do it as a trust (or half of it) or leave a house to the wife. So kids aren't waiting for the new partner to pass on before inheriting. But will get the remainder when she does.

By the time there's a new long established relationship I'm not sure that it is the father's money anymore. If they'd divorced, rather than him dying you'd never argue that mother's share wasn't her own money, even if he had been the main earner.

If the new partner has been financially dependent, she should be provided for IMO and in this case there's plenty of cash so that the children can still have a substantial inheritance too.

Late husband 50% to the kids on death of mother.
Mother share to her partner with token special gifts to children with written legal proviso that kids receive on her death.

Children will
Be extremely financially sound. If they complain they're being grabby.
They should also be building their own life's they are now adult.

New partner may well have to provide care in later years.

I'd leave the partner the country house and everything else to the children.

This

5 years is not a long relationship. It is normal in most marriages to have a mirror will but tbh I very much doubt think that a spouse would do that if they thought a new partner would come in and get a large cut as opposed to children of the marriage. I would be having second thoughts about a partner who expected and accepted that.

I would suggest that the house (assuming owned 100% outright by the woman) is left to the children but with lifetime occupancy to the partner. The investments are split equally 3 ways. If the partners decides to move, the share of the investments is adequate to buy a new house, and they are sufficient to pay the costs of maintenance and bills on the existing house if that is preferred.

Mother hasn't died yet!

My dp has left me money he says and we jointly (tenants in common) own our house with lifetime interest. His dd (adult) checked she could still live with me if something happened to her dad which I assured her she could, I was quite touched.

I wonder if there is some sympathy here because it is another woman? Imagine if it were a man moving in or a man with a new 5 year female partner . I think we would be seeing slightly different responses.

Well aware of that but discussions will take place.

Partner a lump sum. Most shared between the kids

I would split the estate in two 50-50 (husband's share and wife's share). The two kids get half the husband's share each, the wife's share is split equally three ways between the kids and new partner. So each child gets just under 42% of the total estate, the new partner gets 17% (which is still a decent amount from such a large estate, and would secure her future, it would be about £850k). I think it also depends on whether the new partner has children from a previous relationship; I would consider making sure the whole estate reverted to the children of the marriage on the death of the partner and wasn't passed on to the partner's family, i.e a lifetime interest rather than an inheritance.

Also, I would do it quite urgently. That's a substantial estate to have intestate! It can always be changed later if she rethinks the exact split, but it would be better to have something in place than nothing.

Buy a small property and leave in trust for the partner with a bit of cash, couple of hundred grand, rest to the children.

Property and wealth 100% to kids and the right to live in the property for the rest of her life. Pension to wife.

this is the best answer.