Bought a house if we die will it go to ny daughter

[user1486499646]

Hi i have a 2 year old DD. We are buying a house on the way to the morgage person we had a crash on the motorway if dp diddnt swerve we would of been dead or if a car was in the middle lane we would be dead. Im wondering if we die what haplens to our dd we now and have told pils we want them to be her gurdians but do we have to put this in writing?? I couldnt have her going into care even if it was just for one day. Also what would happen to our house it would get sold but were would the money go i want it to be left to my dd for when she is 18 how do i do this is it a will or what???

The child won't go into care if there is a family member willing to look after her. If you put in your will who you would like to have her, it's not legally binding but will give an idea of your wishes.

I think if you both died, your DD would go to the next of kin of whichever parent survived the longest. I don't think your preference carries any legal weight unless you have stipulated it in your will. As in, the next of kin could choose to follow your wishes but they don't have to.

X post with sotired. I didn't realise that they didn't have to follow the will....what if someone has been named as a legal guardian in the event of your death?

You would also need to discuss with sol about making financial provision for the guardian. We had an agreement with my Bil to take care of each other's children. A much larger house would have been needed in both cases as there were 5 children altogether. So a sum was set aside for their care and the rest left in trust

Definitely get a Will prepared by a solicitor who you can meet face to face preferably as you'll have a better meeting. If you both pass away without a Will everything passes to your daughter. Guardians will be appointed in your Will but you appoint them in any written document which is signed and dated so if your worried you could write a letter as something to have in the interim as it can take a while to put a Will in place.

"If you both pass away without a Will everything passes to your daughter. "
Though if dp has any other dc (I assume op does not!) then it may be more complicated - would depend who died first as to how the intestacy rules worked out. (If you both die together I think the law deems the older to have died first but am not sure of this - the solicitor will know!) Op, definitely see a solicitor to discuss this and the other issues like who owns what share of the house you are buying and so on, and whether to own it jointly or as tenants in common - before you buy the house.

And also tell the sol if you're planning to get married, so the sol can take that into account.
Sorry to hear about the crash - must have been very shocking.

As they are unmarried it doesn't matter who dies first as the intestacy rules don't pass assets to unmarried partners. If the OP's partner has more children then his assets will be divided equally among all his children.

Good point emmums, though if the house is owned as joint tenants the dp's 'half' will go to the later surviving dp automatically, whether or not there's a will or marriage. So it could make a difference who dies first.

Though in this case op may want to hold it as tenants in common - although of course that would also mean dp could leave his share to someone else.

I think if you both died, your DD would go to the next of kin of whichever parent survived the longest

There is no legal definition of next of kin.

If the parents appoint a guardian in their will the child would go to that guardian in the event of their death.

If both parents die without appointing a guardian and the relatives can't sort out between them who the child should live with the courts would get involved. They would decide what was in the child's best interests.

Guardianship under a will can be challenged. Then the Court will decide what is in the child's best interest. From the time the Will is made to the actual event circumstances can change for the guardians

My eldest son who has 4 children with a big age gap made my DD their guardian. She now has adult children but my younger son now has small children. Verbally the Guardianship of the 4 smallest children has been taken over by the 2 brothers.

Thanks for the recommendations Random Astrantia and TheSandwich.

OP, I do understand why you wouldn't have thought about wills before, given your age, not many 21 year olds would have dealt with that yet!

It would of course be very sensible to make wills now, though, because, being unmarried, you won't automatically inherit anything from each other. By making wills, you can ensure that the survivor of you is properly provided for, particularly as they would be caring for your child/ren

Your wills will also include a clause setting out who you'd want to care for your child/ren until they're 18 in the unlikely event that both parents died.

If you'd like any more info, feel free to PM me.