Inheritance question

[Myleetlepony]

If a couple are living together in his house, which is mortgaged in his name only. He won't make a will, so if anything happens to him everything goes to his son, and presumably if anything happens to his son, to his son's mother.
A bad situation you may think, however, the couple have a joint life insurance policy, which is not linked to the mortgage and was taken out a couple of years after the mortgage. They are the beneficiaries.
If anything happens to him, then his partner will be paid out by the life insurance policy. Would there be any legal obligation on her to use it to pay off the mortgage? Or would she be able to walk away, leaving his son and his family to deal with the rest of the estate?

As far as I know, there would be no obligation to pay off the mortgage.

That money would belong to the partner, and if she wasn't named in his will then she would have nothing to do with the estate.

Thanks. A good argument for staying with the status quo in that case, as the life insurance is the same size as the outstanding mortgage on the house.
(I love your MN name! )

Thank you :)

She (you?) would potentially have a claim against the estate after death (the inheritance(PFFAD) act) so he'd be better off doing a will, even if only to maintain the status quo, so he can explain why he isn't providing for her/you in his will. Presumably the policy is not charged to the mortgagee.

Thanks Resolution, no, the insurance policy was taken out after the mortgage and has no connection at all to the mortgage.

I should have said that I was refering to myself, just wanted to make a nice clear posting. If he doesn't want to make a will I've decided it's up to him. I love him to bits, but he's a stubborn so and so. If the worst happened, and God forbid I don't need to worry about this for a very long time, I want to just take my insurance money and walk away. I don't want to make any claim on his estate at all.

I can foresee there would be all sorts of complications, and at the end of the day the house would have to be sold to pay the mortgage on it. Having been on at him for ages to get things sorted I've sat back, looked at the situation and decided that I just need to be assured that I would have enough to set myself up somewhere in a modest home. It's not perfect, but it's the way it is.

I would seek legal/financial advice about something as important as this.

An update, because personally I like to know how things turn out. I was over-thinking this, I rang the insurance company and explained exactly what I needed to know, and how things would probably work out if one of us were to be paid out. It's fine, there is no obligation to pay the mortgage.
Let's hope I don't need to think about this again for a very long time! If in the future I was to be in a bit of a better situation then I might well help my partner's son out a bit, but who knows what's ahead, and it's best to have all the facts isn't it.

Remember though - what might seem like alot of money now tied up in the policy might just about buy you a sandwich when he dies. Don't think therefore that this will always provide for you. Make some alternative provision for yourself if you can.

We're upping the cover at intervals to make sure it's always modest house-sized. My alternative provision is my "gold plated" local government pension (said with irony) and my properties. Who knows if they will have any equity?