To worry about not having wills

[Orangesandlemons77]

DH thinks we don't need wills as we are married but I worry about what would happen if one of us was to die intestate.

We are both in our 50s. Don't have much savings but the house is paid off and worth around £400K and he has around £200K in a private pension.

How would this be divided without wills? I understand it is shared above £322K? Would this mean selling our home?

And there are some new rules coming in after 2027 that pensions are part of the estate, not sure if that will change anything.

He has stated in his pension it is to be left to me, but not sure how that would work out.

I think it sounds like a potential minefield and that we should get wills sorted. AIBU?

Any children? Together and / or separately?

If the house is in his name only and he is resisting making a will, I would have serious doubts about his intentions.

Could he already have a will with someone else as the beneficiary. It’s so selfish to make life. It’s difficult that needs to be by not having a will in place.

get yourself added to the house.
You need a will.

You have zero pension?

If you’re married you will automatically inherit everything if your DH dies and vice versa.

If you both die at the same time your estate will automatically be divided equally amongst those of your children alive at the time. And if a child dies before you their share would go in equal shares to their children.

it’s a good idea to have a will, but it’s essential if you don’t want either of those things to happen. Eg if you wanted to exclude one child, or give the whole lot to someone else not mentioned above.

Then you urgently need to make wills. Decide who you want to get what, and get it properly written up and witnessed.

House is in his name only? No wonder he doesn't think you need a will.

That's not quite true. There is a limit to what you inherit before the children automatically get some, so you could end up with you having to sell the house to split the inheritance.

In that case, yes you would inherit as his wife but you’d have to pay IHT on it - ie you’d get £400l + £200K, - 325k and pay IHT on the 275 - ie about £110k tax payable. If you were both joint tenants, then the house belongs to the surviving spouse and is exempt from IHT. The £200k is below the threshold so IHT = £0. This assumes there are no children here, but if you have any, then you wouldn;t get the house as you would only get personal possessions and their first £322k of the estate. The rest is shared between children. There may be additional things like a pension that he has not considered, so you should absolutely have a will.

Probate is also very slightly easier and thus quicker with a will in place (I believe there may be additional costs if no will).

He is daft not to have a will and you really need the house to be put into joint tenancy and for you to d a mirror will so that his interests in the house are protected.

I would speak to a wills specialist and get advice. The stuff I have written is my understanding having just done our wills but I am NOT a legal professional. My DH also thought I’d ‘just get everything’ too, until we watched Martin Lewis one night…

If there is no-one else to contest like no children (either shared or either side on a previous relationship), and no siblings or parents or you 100% trust that those people would want their offspring's/sibling's spouse to inherit, you technically shouldn't need wills, because the spouse would be the natural heir without a will. However I would still do one as it will make the process clearer and easier and quicker. You should also appoint executors to sort the will when the second one goes, and, think about inheritance should you died together and so not be able to pass from one to the other.

There is no IHT between husband and wife.

The situation wrt being intestate and other inheritance rules are different, I think in Scotland. Are you in England or Wales?

Do you / either of you have any children, ?

You really must have a Will if there are Dc.

Speak with a proper Will provider. If you want reasonably priced and efficient try Marlow Wills, a MN er with many happy customers. She will also sort your LPAs at a discount alongside Wills.

This thread is peppered with inaccuracies.

Get legal advice.

No one wants to deal with a mess (intestate £ in the throes of bereavement, there are complexities to be thought through ( what if the same accident took you both together? What if one of your Dc died before you? A will can ensure that their Dc inherit their share, etc What if the surviving partner had a step child? They wouldn’t inherit their own parent’s share if there was no will.

Making a Will is part of being an adult if you have any assets or savings at all.

We are in our 70s with an adult child living with us who is dependent on us (long-term medical condition). We had "mirror" wills drawn up four years ago by a solicitor in our village. They cost £200 for two wills. Please talk to your husband about getting wills done. And I agree with others here, you need to get him to add your name to the house deeds as "joint tenants".

Two young adult DC, both ours

And you have zero pension?

We live in England and Wales. I thought as a pp says no IHT between husband and wife? Bit confused by a pp. anyway thanks for the replies.

I have been long term sick and get long term cont based ESA and PIP. This should continue until I qualify for the full state pension at 67. We also intend to share DH's pension too.

Also would probably qualify for AA or PIP along with the state pension.

And he’s your carer?

have you ever worked? To have zero pension is concerning. You have a good few years before you’re of retirement age… can you start one?

You should absolutely make a will each and unless you were really cash strapped, you should chat to a solicitor instead of doing an off the shelf will, as there are quite a few things to consider, including a bit of tax saving. If you die intestate it's also slower and a bit more expensive to deal with your estate. I also have an advance directive ( living will) so that my family know what I do and don't want to happen if i become incapacitated. This is really important, e.g. if you want to avoid being resuscitated, or pumped full of antibiotics, or taken off to hospital in certain situations. Your partner- and the doctors - are all in a much better place if you've done all this.

Wills just make everything easier at a time when the last thing you need is additional stress.

Planning for a funeral, knowing and remembering what arrangements your partner wanted. Getting access and information about all bank and savings accounts, getting probate faster etc, plus knowing what the other person wanted doing with personal possessions, bequests to friends and charities. A properly written will can really make things easier for the surviving partner.

So many places offer free simple will writing help it seems silly not to take advantage.

@PoppySaidYesIKnow Just googled your scenario and the reply was:

If a husband dies intestate (without a will) in England and Wales, the wife inherits all personal belongings, the first £322,000 of the estate, and half of the remaining estate. The children share the other half of the remaining estate equally. The house is included in this valuation.

Breakdown of Inheritance (Intestacy Rules)
If the house is in the husband's name only, it is treated as part of the total estate value.
Wife:
All personal property (chattels).
The first £322,000 (statutory legacy).
50% of any value remaining above £322,000.
Children:
50% of any value remaining above £322,000, divided equally among all children.

This is how I understood it.

Further notes say that you would not be liable for IHT as you are allocated your husband’s allowance and his estate comes below the threshold, but the children may be liable on their share.

Essentially - he needs to speak to an advisor to check this is correct and decide whether it would be easier to transfer title for your house into a joint tenancy so that just the £200,000 is part of his estate and you would get the full benefit of that? If that is what he wants, of course. He may want to give them a share of the 200k or put the house in tenants in common so that half the house goes to the children upon his death, but you have a protected life interest in the property. There are numerous options depending on your ages and his wiches.

Thanks, or we could just do mirror wills leaving it all to each other?

Having been the child of a parent who did not make a will and, due to the complexity of land ownership, this meant 4 decades of shit please make a will.
I am not exaggerating at the 4 decades either!

We did mirror wills. So easy - and less complicated. Just left everything to the other and to our children equally should our spouse predecease us. Named a close friend as our executor and my dog walkers as the nominated carers for my dogs if family could not take them on and that was it.

There are free templates on line (we found one via the money supermarket website) but it might be worth your DH having with a quick chat with someone if he isn’t convinced - or show him the attached? It is martin lewis on wills, just a couple of mins long!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0jx2xqv

If he’s your carer, I’d also be looking into what care provision I could get if he was to suddenly pass