Step children and inheritance

[WineBeforeWhine]

I have two step children who were adults when I married their dad. We then had two children. My parents left me considerably more which went into the family pot while we were married. My husband died and I was left everything. I’m now having to redo my Will. My question is should all four children be treated equally or is reasonable to leave my own children a higher percentage of my estate something like 20% for the stepchildren and 30% mine? I’m struggling to get it right.

I think it's fair that your children get more, this is their inheritance from mum and dad, whereas presumably your step children will also inherit from their mum?

Your step children will have another parent, another set of grandparents.

I would give your step children a representative amount that considers their dads contribution (consodering they have another side of the family). And your own children I would give a higher percentage because its to represent both their parents.

I would have thought that your children would get 1/2 your estate each and 1/4 dads and step children 1/4 days so all things being equal then your DC get 37.5% each and his get 12.5% each. But I appreciate I do not have all the facts and if their mother has never been in the picture etc things might be very different in reality.

Yes your children should get more. This is your children’s inheritance from both their parents.
Unless you love your stepchildren equally and want them to have the same - that’s totally up to you.

Funnily enough, this is how it is at the moment. Yes their mother remarried and had two more children.

Didn’t your DH make arrangements for his DC, so part of his estate only in life interest for you and then going to DC?

Its ok I feel to give unequal shares in this situation. This is inheritance from your dc two parents, but sdc have another parent they have/will inherit from.
You could do something where all 4 children inherit 25% each of dad's share. Then your children inherit 50% each of your share.
What ever you do I think putting an explanation in the will would be bestie its an unequal share.

Yes they will inherit from their mum and her new husband.

I would look at your inheritance as a percentage of the estate and put that to one side for your shared children. Your step children and your shared children would then get an equal share each of what is left. I would get the solicitor to make it clear in the will why this is happening so there is no misunderstanding.

Yes I think it’s totally fair to put your inheritance to one side for your DC.

Yes good point about getting the solicitor to say why it was done that way in the Will. I hadn’t thought about that.

Unless your late husband brought considerably more into the marriage than yon did, I think it’s fair to ring fence your separate inheritance for your own children, and then divide the rest amongst all four.

If your late husband did bring in significantly more, I think it’s only fair to reflect that too.

@WineBeforeWhine depends who dies first in their mum’s relationship. If mum dies first the stepdad might ignore them in his will. Legally you could do the same, obviously you are doing the moral thing to include them in your will (assuming you are in England)

I suppose one question is, although I know it went into the family pot, has your inheritance been spent and/or is it tangible? I'd think of it differently if in reality you had agreed that you would spend it on "fun" eg travel and the assets left were clearly joint, ie property.

Absolutely right and fair to do an unequal split.

I have one step child and we have two DC together.

At present our wills are 2/12 for step dc and 5/12 for our joint DC.

Any inheritance I receive will be ring fenced for my DC and will be split between them 50/50.

Step child has his own mother to inherit from and is an only child on that side so will probably get quite a bit from her.

And what did Dad have at the point of your marriage? They should get that at least.

Yes 1/4 of his half is fair so 12.5%
Is your inheritance still in savings, I would be tempted to pass this on when your kids are ready to buy a house tbh

My friend lost her older half sister over an inheritance. Dad died left everything to his second wife, his second wife left it all to her DD. She felt her DH had paid out his ex wife a lot of money (he was a very high earner) and steo daughter would have that inheritance.. My friend inherited a house worth over a million, but her older half sister never spoke to her again. Perhaps her half sister was out of order and shouldn't have been so money orientated, or perhaps my friend could have altered the will to give her something. I think the first wife had spent the divorce settlement so there wasn't much to inherit.

Your husband has really screwed over his children from his first marriage. If they were adults when you came into their lives and you've since gone on to have your own children, you are probably close in age to them. There's a good chance they may never see any inheritance from you.

Our wills are set up that my half of the estate will be divided between my two DC, DH's half between his four DC. DSCs already had money from their late DM. And have benefitted from my income and support during my marriage to their father.

Op how much did you contribute to the relationship financially? Did he already have a house? I think you should try to leave his children his contribution because it always seems unfair when children, not only have the experience of separated parents and then not being considered in a parents will.

I think it depends on whether and how much you were involved in the step children's lives before you married & how much their father bought into the relationship.

I received an unequal inheritance, the testator had the solicitor draft a letter explaining why, 3 very solid reasons.

However, it did not stop a vicious dispute.

Aside, i think its brilliant you are considering inc them in this at all, many would not.

This is how I would expect it to be on a general basis. Your step children have another parent and set of grandmother could inherit from too.

If there is a big age gap then OP could you give them what they would have got if their dad had been single when he passed, and then your will could leave everything to your children?

I’d say your children together get 1/3 each and the two step kids share 1/3 that seems fair if you put more money in and the step kids have another parent and a grandparent