Large inheritance and husbands children

[obiecheck]

Hello,

I am due to get married this year. My parents are separated but both are wealthy. I expect from my mum alone, when she sadly passed I should inherit around £750,000 and my dad it will be more.

I hate thinking about them both dying, as I'm very close to them. But I am thinking about when I marry and what will happen.

Firstly, I have a son from a previous and my partner also has 2 children from a previous. We together have one.

When I marry, if my parents or parent died and I inherited, would this automatically be shared with my husband?

My main point is, and this is far fetched but I want to protect my children, if I were to inherit a large sum, and I died, I would want my inheritance to go to my two biological children.

I have never had a bond with partners two children, I have tried and tried. I'm very a very maternal person, I've done all I can. The oldest barely speaks to me.

I really don't want this money to go to them.

What would I need to do if this were to happen?

Also; what if I were to use the money or some of to buy a house? Would I need to make sure that once it sells, the money would be split between my two children?

I just need some advice and clarity on this really. Thank you.

You need to get this tied up in your will and state exactly who you want included and who you don’t. Your husband and his family do not have to inherit if you do not want this but you will need to state this legally and say that you want all your estate to pass unequivocally to your own children.

Which IMO is very sensible.

Not marrying is the best (and cheapest) way to protect your money. You can then specify in a will that your money goes to your kids.

You can also ask your parents to leave money to your kids and skip you. If you died when the kids are under 18 then you’d need to nominate an adult who could access that money to look after them but it would belong to your kids.

Easiest way to sort this is not to get married really and have a will that stipulates your wishes.

Other ways would be to talk to your parents and get them to leave any inheritance in trust for your DC. That may be way more diplomatic if you can't have an honest conversation with your future DH.

When I marry, if my parents or parent died and I inherited, would this automatically be shared with my husband?

if you do nothing beyond marry, yes. It becomes communal and he can claim some of it in event of divorce. If you die with no will he gets it all.
divorce is the biggest risk tbh.

if you want to get married you need to sit down with your parents and estate plan properly. A Trust would help circumvent/prevent him or his children accessing it

personally I just wouldn’t marry…!

Ask parents to discuss with solicitors the best way to do this, eg by trusts.

Just book a legal appointment.

If you don’t write a will and are married, intestacy rules will be used to determine who inherits all of your assets. https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will

If this isn’t what you want, see a solicitor and write a will. You don’t need to not marry to ensure your estate is distributed as you wish. Marriage will affect your estate, but divorce is the bigger risk then - some of your assets might pass to your DH on divorce.

The real issue is if you devorce he have a right to the marital assets which may very well include your inheritance. Prenups are often not watertight in the UK but you could look into it if you thing your fdh would accept that. As pp says, better to just not get married. If you do get married, get any assets e.g. property ring fenced, look into prenups, put property or assets in trust to your children or get your parents to. Tbh it's a lot of work that can be avoided just by not marrying.

The question is, if you have had all the children you intend to, why get married at all. You don't need the protection of that status anyway. Why not change your name by deed poll (if you are changing your name) and have a party but not complete the legal bit.

That’s not correct. Inheritance is a non matrimonial asset, and would only be taken into consideration in a divorce if there weren’t enough ‘matrimonial assets’ to cover the reasonable needs of both parties. If you put it into a joint account it becomes a matrimonial asset. Keep it in a separate account, get your parents to leave it directly to your children in trust, or do a deed of variation to divert it to your children if it’s within 2 years of your mum/dad dying.

Don't forget that not marrying protects his children too. If he is older then you or even the same age then statistically you will outlive him and will inherited his assets on his death. There's nothing stopping you from disinheriting his children, presumably he knows you don't get on.

Perhaps use this as an opportunity to have a wider discussion about protecting both of you and your joint and seperate children in the event of divorce or death.

If you marry your SOLE assets will be distributed as per your will, so you can give directly to your dc. Your home, if set up as joint, will go to your dh, and he can distribute as he sees fit.

Should you divorce however, it may very well be all included in the marital pot and certainly if it is a long marriage will be likely to be split with a good chunk going to your 'ex' - at the very least he would certainly get a much much higher share of your joint assets (house, savings, pensions etc) leaving you to continue with just your inheritance alone.

With half of marriages ending in divorce, it might be worth a chat with your parents about how they plan on setting up their own wills, and setting up trusts for the GC so it bypasses you entirely .

This 👆

As others have said it's Divorce that poses a bigger threat. If you were, Godforbid, to inherit if both DPs quickly after marriage and then DH decides marriage is not for him, he can easily walk away with half of the money which I presume would pass to his DC upon his death?

Don't marry him.
You don't need to, so don't do it.

If she marries then it gives a higher limit of inheritance tax for any property that passes to their kids. If she doesn’t marry - higher rate of tax due. Needs considering if it’s about making sure money goes to her children.

Think you need proper advice re your own estate planning OP. I know all this as I’ve been in the same position (although turned out I was right about my ex’s motives and divorced him before it came to any inheritance).

Are your parents old? It is important to factor in that at the moment there is no money so its all hypothetical - you may not have any inheritance for 20+ years or it might dissappear in care home fees. Lots of people have parents in £750k+ houses and happily get married.

As there is no actual money atm marriage gives you other protections particularly as you have a child together- if you divorce you have some financial protection. You don't say who is the primary earner.

Don't marry, or ask your parents to put your share in trust for your children.

But the most sensible thing to do is to pay a professional to advise you on the legal and practical considerations. You can't assume that anyone here is a wills and probate lawyer.

Another thing to be aware of is that marriage automatically invalides any existing will. I am not a lawyer but I believe that if you make a new will just before you get married and the wording states explicitly that this is being made in anticipation of the marriage, that would stand, but an older will making no mention of your marriage would just lapse, and then the intestacy law would apply until you get a new will made.

Just do not get married would be the easiest.

Not getting married will not completely protect your assets.
www.birketts.co.uk/legal-update/provision-for-family-and-dependants-act-1975/

As everyone has already said, NOT marrying is the best way to go.

But what if that is not acceptable?

Frankly, the best way then may be for your grandparents to put your DC as the beneficiaries of the majority of their estate rather than you.

This would have the benefit of meaning that your DC would not then also have to pay inheritance tax on their grandparent's money left to them from your estate which you have already paid inheritance tax on when it was left to you.

As others have said, if you use the inheritance to invest in your family home (eg enlarging it or moving to a new home) then that money will be "intermingled" and counted as a marital asset if it comes to a divorce.

It would probably be a good idea to keep any money that is passed on to you in a separate account to your partner and even make it a joint account with your DC.

I wouldn't get married in your shoes OP, it would be to your disadvantage

Don't get married is the best advice.
If you purchase a home put it in your name with your children as survivor tenants.

I'd be worried that my 'expectations' were part of the incentive for him to marry me, that my being much wealthier would cause resentment, and that the attitude of his children would cause further issues.

Not marrying him isn't a choice I'm afraid; I want to marry him and we have already spent hell of a lot of money on our wedding anyway!

I know my mum has stated in her will that the money shall be for my brother and I, and all biological grandchildren. She has stated she'll have another meeting with her solicitor and that I may have a joint meeting too.

If I were to buy a house say, could I not just state in my will that if I were to die, my DH can live in it until he were to pass, then the sale goes to my biological children?