DH left me NOTHING in his will – devastated and fuming

[jackmd5]

I’m honestly reeling and don’t know what to do. DH of 15 years passed away unexpectedly a few months ago. It’s been a horrible time, and I’ve been dealing with everything – funeral, DC, paperwork, the lot – while also grieving.

I’ve just found out that he left NOTHING to me in his will. Not a penny. Everything has gone to his two DC from his first marriage, who are both adults and very comfortable financially. Our joint savings, the house (which is in his name, long story), even his personal possessions – all left to them. I get that he wanted to provide for them, but to leave me, his WIFE, completely out??! I am beyond hurt and also absolutely panicking because I have no idea where this leaves me financially.

He made the will before we were married, and I stupidly assumed he’d updated it. I trusted him. Never in a million years did I think he’d do this to me. I’ve raised our DC, supported him through thick and thin, and now I’m left with nothing??

I feel sick. I don’t even know where to start with legal stuff – does anyone know if I can challenge this? I can’t believe he’s done this. I thought we had a happy marriage. Just looking at his face in old photos makes me want to scream.

Has anyone been through anything similar? What did you do? I feel so betrayed.

It's also the childhood home that the younger two children grew up in. I don't see how it's any different.

Sadly unlikely given by the OPs posts.

Their mum and dad paid for it. Op didn’t.

though their dad has paid thus they get to remain till adults and get all the cash etc side of it.

But that home was the original family home long before op arrived.

edit.

You don't know that the ex wife paid anything. But that doesn't change anything where the kids are concerned.

Yep definitely, he's at fault, this happens a lot it's sad and unjust.

No it's not true.

It's the first £322k and half of anything after that with the other half to any children.

The house was in the DHs name, an asset of his existing marriage and more importantly the family home of his widow and young children. Previous owners have nothing to do with it.
It’s absolutely astounding that you’d think it fair and right to boot an 18 year old out of their home to give it to their adult siblings who have no actual need of it.

They don't get nothing. Half the estate after the first £332k is shared equally between the children. That is intestacy law in England.

Inheritance tax aside.

This is bonkers, it’s not even nearly morally right. No one would do this. You do know that assets are divided equally in divorce? So the mum would have go asserts too?

It’s also the younger siblings life long home.

i brought my ex out of my house and then went on to have another baby. I transferred the value to another house but I’m not leaving it all to my eldest. The money is split 50/50 between my children as I’m not married, it’s my house and my money to leave to them both.

Copied from coop legal services.

Under marriage laws in England and Wales, any pre-existing Will is revoked when you enter into a legally binding marriage contract. This means that if you die without making a new Will after you get married, the law will decide who should inherit from you, under inheritance laws called the Rules of Intestacy.

Under the Rules of Intestacy, if you are married with children and the Estate is under £322k then your spouse would receive everything. If you are married with children and the Estate is over £322k (say £400k, for example) then your spouse would receive £322k of this plus your personal belongings. The remaining £78k would then be split 50/50 between your spouse and your children; your spouse would receive 50% of this and your children would equally share the other 50%.

Hope this helps.

I know she’s not in Scotland but you can’t disinherit your children in Scotland, they would be entitled to a share wether they were named in a will or not.

How do you know this?

the ex wife may have paid nothing. He may have needed to mortgage it to buy her out.

o/p may have paid off any mortgage. so she may well have paid anywhere between none or all of it.

This is the correct advice. As a spouse you get the first £322,000 then 50% of the remaining estate. Any children get an equal share if the other 50%.
Do seek legal advice. There may be inheritance tax due on the estate also.
Make sure you also make a will at the same time.
Sorry for your loss xx

Unless the last will he made said it was being made in the knowledge of your upcoming marriage then pps are right, it will now be invalid so the rules of intestacy apply. If you are going to suffer hardship through giving his adult kids their part of the inheritance now, they may agree to putting a charge on your house for their share so that once your kids are older and have left home (or you remarry) then at that point you can sell up and they can take their dues. It's something to consider. If they are financially comfortable they may agree to that given you have a young family to look after on your own now but it's something to discuss with the solicitor. I would be very careful as to how you approach this with them just in case they were aware of the contents of the will but not that it is now invalid. To be honest, in their shoes, I would not be expecting to inherit much if anything at all in a situation such as this because there are dependent children involved.

This is the subject of Martin Lewis's TV show on at the moment.

And forgot to say that yes, if the will is in fact valid because it was made in anticipation of your marriage, you absolutely would have grounds to contest it as it makes no provision at all for you or the younger kids as his dependents.

@AchNo my relative wasn't the nice one, he was the idiot who didn't make another will! His third wife/widow, on the other hand, was lovely.

Although I do think it was easier for her to make those decisions because she had no children, either from an earlier marriage or with my relative.

This! Seek legal advice immediately

I don't think you should be entitled to anything. It should go to his children - the ones from his first marriage and the ones you had together. you should be able to live in the home until your joint children are 21 but after that the assets should be distributed between the children.

So they get screwed.

Thankfully your opinion doesn’t get taken into account.

Very interesting, but the OP didn't ask for views on what should happen, she wants to know the legal position, which is as set out dozens of times on this thread. She inherits the bulk of her husband's assets. It's then up to her who to leave her money too in due course.

Why should a spouse not be entitled to anything?

The OP is looking at a considerable bill for IHT if there was no trust provision made.

On top of that unless there are other savings she will have to sell the house in order to free up the older children's share of the estate.

That's if the older children don't have an updated will of course.

Unless I'm missing something, why would there be inheritance tax? The OP's husband could leave £325k free of tax to whomsoever he pleased, whether by will or through the intestacy provisions. Over and above that everything he leaves to his spouse is free of IHT. So if the OP gets £322k + 50% of what remains, there's no tax on any of that, and it doesn't sound as if the remainder will exceed £325k.