Not married to OH. What happens if he dies?

[Adviceneededpleaseee]

Hi all.

Looking for some hypothetical advice. Me and DP are engaged and have one DC and another on the way. We got engaged before Covid and then the wedding went on the back burner due to me having a baby and then getting pregnant again. We do plan on marrying once this baby is born.

I am not on the mortgage. Our house is owned solely by DH. I am the sole beneficiary of his life insurance policy which will pay off the house plus leave £1M+.

Neither of us has a will at the moment. Fully aware we need to get this done ASAP.

If DH was to die tomorrow - who would get what (the house, the life insurance and DHs assets)? His mum and also a brother are still alive if this makes any difference.

Please no posts telling me how important is that we get married and make a will, we are both fully aware how important this is (we just need to get round to it!).

thank you!

If he makes a will and leaves you assets worth more than £325k his estate will pay 40% inheritance tax on anything above that. If you are married you can inherit the lot with no inheritance tax payable.

Not just if he leaves over that amount to the OP. Assets over £325k in total mean inheritance tax, unless left to a spouse (there's a small extra allowance for property left to child).

You don't understand how important it is. Otherwise you'd have made a will already and an appointment at the registry office. Why are you waiting?

Trusts are set up via a number of mechanisms. So dying with only young children to inherent would create a trust but it is going to be governed by the courts decisions so you want to do it your own way you are best using a solicitor to design it for you.

In the end the best answer here is to go for a civil partnership (same legal rights as a marriage), so she can have a legal marriage later at the date of her choosing, while also have wills written covering things like who would be guardian of children if both parents die.