Is there anything my parents can do to protect my inheritance?

[userzH]

I have another thread going but I wondered if anyone had any advice here.

When my parents pass away, it is highly likely that I will inherit a large some of money.

I am currently trying to divorce my abusive ex husband who is refusing to engage in any financial settlement. He doesn't want to cut financial ties between us.

Whilst we have nothing to sort financially, I need to protect myself from him in the future.

If it isn't going to be possible to get any sort of financial order from my ex husband, is there anything my parents could do to protect their inheritance should he try make a claim against me when after they've passed away?

This is awful talk about but it's worrying for my parents. They hate the idea of their money potentially ending up in his pocket.

I googled, "can my ex husband claim my inheritance after divorce?" It returned lots of advice that looks quite straightforward and hopeful. Good luck!

Yes I have taken the advice.

However my parents were wondering if there is anything they can do to protect their money once it has reached me if my ex husband will not co-operate with a financial order.

I have sent my solicitor an email this morning and I am going to carry on with pursuing the clean break order however there is no harm looking at other options. Solicitors are expensive and while my parents are financially stable, there is nothing wrong with asking if anyone has been in a similar situation and what they did to rectify it before just jumping straight in and getting their own legal advice.

They need to take advice. One thing they might be able to do is leave you the right to live in any property they own during your lifetime or money from it's sale to be used to purchase a more suitable property for you to live in. On your death, the property is sold and funds can pass to your DC/whoever else they'd like to leave it to. Obviously you won't inherit money, but it'd give you security in the way of a property.

He can’t if you do a clean break divorce. Just divorce him and hopefully your parents are not about to die imminently. 🤷‍♀️

When your parents pass away which hopefully won't be for a long time yet, then make a will and in it state who you want to inherit your estate (usually your children) and make it clear your ex husband is not to get anything.

I think there's such a thing as a bloodline will. I understand that involves leaving the money/property you want to pass on in trust for your direct descendants (children and grandchildren) rather than their partners.

I'm not an expert though, and you definitely need to press your solicitor to clarify and set things up for you. That is what you are paying them for.

A friend did something similar, but her son can access the money and the trustees can release funds for certain specific purposes and/or at their discretion. She did it because her daughter in law is an utter spendaholic who can burn through money at an alarming rate.

Unfortunately, the trustees are her daughter and son in law, so now there's been a big falling out between the daughter and daughter in law, and a lesser falling out between daughter and son.

OP hasn't said which country they're in

No one can offer advice without this info

@userzH it's really simple. They just place it in a trust and the monies are paid at the discretion of the trustees.
But in any case it would not be considered a matrimonial asset in your circumstance (marriage is not long and it doesn't sound like your ex is asking for maintenance for kids etc).
Stick with your plans for a clean break and forget about the inheritance right now. And tell your parents to update the will to put it all in trust.

Getting a clean break divorce is what you need to do.

What claim does the ex have to preventing that? What does he want in order for that to happen?

Yes solicitors are expensive - but they are expensive for a reason: they have expertise and experience. Something that works for one person will not always work for another. That’s why solicitors take time to take instructions and look through the paperwork and find the solution that works for each individual client.

I do not understand the reluctance to instruct a solicitor which may cost say, £5k, but could potentially save you maybe £tens of thousands and if substantial property, even £hundreds of thousands. It is utterly foolish to take the risk and not to take the overall long term financial view on this. And they should do it fast because it may well be relevant to how you work out the divorce.

The future inheritance should not be part of the divorce settlement as the OP's parents may need care in their later years so there may not be anything for the OP to inherit.

The small inheritance I had from my parents was ring fenced ie. not part of the joint assets.

I don't think anyone on MN can help you more than a solicitor, and even if a solicitor came on this thread and told you what to do, you or your parents still need a solicitor to actually put things in place.

You need some form of trust arrangement. I've had to do this in the past for clients.

Get proper legal and financial advice - don't rely on Mumsnet

However my parents were wondering if there is anything they can do to protect their money once it has reached me if my ex husband will not co-operate with a financial order.

Your parents should pay for a SHL so that you can get the financial order. He doesn't need to co-operate with the legal process - it may cost a fuck-tonne more if he doesn't, but if he continues to refuse then the courts will, eventually, enforce one upon him.

So if you get divorced and get a final order, clean break or whatever it is and your parents die 20 years later, he can go back to court and claim some?

Your parents should see a solicitor and change their will to either leave you out and go to your children, or a trust or some sort of specialist arrangement.

There will be one.

I'm actually shocked to learn divorced people can go back for an unlimited amount of time and keep making claims. I thought the whole point of divorce was to draw a legal line under the marriage and end any financial commitments.

Correct, you MUST have a financial order in place after the divorce or the ex can come back YEARS later looking for money.

Of course you can get a financial order. You need a clean break order. The fact your ex won’t agree will make it take a bit longer and will cost more, but ultimately it’s up to the court not him.

More people should get a clean break financial remedy order on divorce as otherwise there is always the chance to make an application for financial provision, even many yesrs later. Courts more often than not refuse applications made years later, but provision is sometimes made and getting a clean break order will avoid that risk. Presumably if you stand to inherit a large sum of money your parents could pay for you to have legal advice?

You have asked what your parents can do. Paying for you to see a specialist matrimonial finance solicitor with a view to obtaining a clean break order is the cleanest, most certain way of ensuring you are protected.

Not as long as the financial order is done too.

Too many people assume that the legal dissolution of the marriage is all that is required - without the financial order either party can apply to court for this to be finalized even decades after the decree absolute.

Op you can't afford NOT to get this finalized.

To be honest you don’t even need a SHT for this. It’s perfectly routine stuff. All you need is someone competent and efficient.

SHL I meant!

You have got legal aid from a solicitor regarding safeguarding a large inheritance. That is unbelievable.
Your parents are wealthy surely they should be paying for a solicitor instead of you using legal aid which is a scarce resource.

It will be because OP is a victim of domestic abuse I think, and nothing to do with the wealth of her parents.

I do think the wealthy parents should be safeguarding their money though, not leaving it to OP to sort out.

Did you actually read the first post? She's divorcing her abusive ex husband. The legal aid will be because of the abuse, and it's not given out easily which means OP must have had a very shit time.

Just seen you have a solicitor. If you don’t understand what they are telling you you need to tell them and ask them to explain. So you do understand.