At some point we will buy a bigger house from the proceeds of our current house and dh's inheritance. Dh still hasn't signed the wills we had drawn up 12yrs ago when we got this house so I am worried that he will die intestate and also would not update a will should I die first and he remarried. Additionally it looks as if when one of my parents dies the other will need long term care and so their assets will mainly go on that, they are joint owners with mirror wills and too old/ infirm/ incapacitated to change their situation. I would like my three dc to have some inheritance should I die first.
I was going to suggest that the next house is bought as tenants in common and then I can leave my share in trust to the dc with a lifetime interest for dh. He won't be massively happy about it so need to have all the concepts lined up. As the situation stands half shares in the property are under the threshold for IHT.
What would happen to the inheritance if I had died, dh was still alive and one of the dc had married and was getting divorced? Would their inheritance (although tied up in our house) be included in any divorce settlement? Secondly if dh downsized (unlikely) would there be a way of making sure that he was able to use the released cash (as long as new property was more than half inherited property) so the dc still don't get money until we have both died. It's not that I wouldn't want my dc to inherit earlier, it is just that I think that he would be happier if he know that he could still spend the money as he wished if he downsized. I know dh would want our dc to be provided for, I am just concerned after reading too much on MN that we don't know how life will pan out and I would hate my dc to feel that I had somehow failed to protect the assets. I would of course hope that dh would be happy to sign a similar will to protect his half should he die first.