Husband and I owning a house. What if something happened......

[SendMyLoveToYourNewLUHuvahh]

Say my husband and I bought a house outright because he inherited a mortgage free house and we sold it for a family home. Presumably that would be put in his name, since it was him that inherited it.

So if, God forbid, we were to split up then I would move out with our children and just rent again as its not my inheritance.

But what happens if we live there for 10-15 years and we split up?

I'm not planning on splitting up, ever of course! And neither is he.

But what happens if I put my heart and soul into a place, decorating it, making it out home. If we split up, I'm out on my ear with the children from a home that we made ours.

I'm not saying he would move out of course. I'm just feeling anxious about the insecurity of it all.

We have gone from being total equals, earning similar, paying rent and bills 50-50 and now we aren't even.

I find this scary.

Any advice please?

Are you married and living in england? I think if he invests his inheritance in eg a family home then it becomes part of the 'pot' to be split on divorce even if you divorce next week. I dont personally like that inheritances are split on divorce though.

No that doesn't sound nice does it?
It's not a very nice conversation to have either.

It's just that this makes me feel insecure which should be the absolute opposite of what I should feel.

And yes married and in England.

Or to be specific, married in a week as that might make a difference.

But couldn't your name not be put on the deeds?

Can't you add a clause that says he will own 70%, you get 30% in the event of split or similar?

Once you are married it doesn't matter whether or not you are named on the deeds. All property goes into the pot to be split between you should you divorce.

Why wouldn't he include you in the deeds? Never mind divorce, if he gets run over by a bus and you discover his will hasn't been updated for 10 years and he's left everything to the local cats home you're homeless...

Prenup? If you are that worried then don't use all his money to buy the house, just get a mortgage for your half or something. This doesn't have to be a problem.

I offered to do a postnup when something similar happened to us, although we already had a property and had been married for over a decade (DH declined the postnup).

It's all in the pot if you divorce, as PP's say.

YY to making wills, if you haven't already. If one of you dies intestate once married, you will inherit all of the other ones estate (up to certain threshold). Again, a property being solely in one spouse's name won't affect this. but it is much slower to get the money and adds a lot of stress.

if he gets run over by a bus and you discover his will hasn't been updated for 10 years and he's left everything to the local cats home you're homeless

When they marry any existing will he may have will cease to be valid unless it is a recent will drawn up in contemplation of this marriage. He could, of course, draw up a will after they marry cutting the OP out but she would then have a claim under the Inheritance Act.

Prenup?

According to the OP she is getting married in a week. Any pre-nuptial agreement at this stage is unlikely to be upheld by the courts. A post-nuptial agreement may be possible but, as with a pre-nuptial agreement, it is not automatically binding.

If there is no pre-nuptial or post-nuptial agreement, once she marries the OP will be entitled to a fair slice of the marital assets in the event of a divorce, including any assets in her husband's name. If it is a short marriage he may be able to keep the home since it was bought with his inheritance. If it is a long marriage and the property is the main asset the OP would be entitled to a proportion of it and may be able to stay in it until the children are grown up. The only legal paperwork required to give her these rights is a marriage certificate!

We will be married before the inhertiance comes to him.

I have no idea about 'my name on the dress' and neither does he.

It's come as a very sudden shock very recently. He's over the moon but it's thrown me.
He says all the right things of course but we haven't spoken about legalities because we have never been in this position before so don't know our options.

I just see it that he has everything all of a sudden and me and our kids have nothing.

*deeds.

Sorry typo, or autocorrect.

Its him if anyone who could be worried about losing half an inheritance on divorce. If he isnt bothered then great. Has he said he wants the house just in his name on the deeds? (Not that it matters wrt divorce)

No he hasn't said who's name is anywhere. I've got no idea and neither does he.
We are proffessionals in low working jobs living in an expensive city, never expecting to own. I hoped any inheritance I got would bypass by and go to our kids so they didn't have to rent like we do.

He hasn't said either way. The reason I haven't discussed it is because he is grieving. He is a very generous and kind man, it was my assumption that the house would be in his name because of his inhertiance.

Thank you for the reasurrance.

OP. It's the marriage that's your protection . Once married all money/property in the marital assets pot. Upon death without a Will (no children) you inherit everything. With children and no will, you inherit everything up to £250k and an absolute interest in the remaining half. The other remaining half split between kids. Any Will made before marriage is invalidated upon marriage unless it's made specifically with view to your upcoming marriage. You should be feeling so much more secure by marrying rather than less so.

It's the women of high earners or those that go on to become sahms who DONT marry who are vulnerable. - congratulations on your upcoming wedding

Oops-sorry, forgot to add - in England- different rules for Scotland. !

That's great news, thank you.

Familylawsolicitor - I have had conflicting advice from my solicitor.

I have recently taken legal advice as I want to divorce my H and he inherited from his DM about 5/6 years ago (remains as a mix of property and land). I was told that I would have no claim on it unless it was needed to provide basic housing needs for me (DC grown up).

Had he sold the land/property and bought a family home, it would then be dependant on the time scale since the inheritance to decide on how much would be part of the matrimonial pot for division (e.g. 20 years down the line it would all be included, 2 years would be housing needs only). Hope that makes sense?