Will query

[Flopsy145]

I'm looking to write my will online, I'm 31 with two kids I share with my husband and he has another child from a previous relationship.
Essentially I want to stipulate that any money I have from inheritance from my parents/grandmother goes into trust for my kids if I die and my husband doesnt and he then gets anything else such as my share in property and pension etc, if we both die together then I still want to have my family inheritance go to my two children and anything else such as assets or property we share just gets split evenly between the three kids.

Is this something I can stipulate in a mirror will?

Also to add, thankfully my parents and grandmother are still alive and hopefully it's not something I have to consider for a very long time, so should I just wait until after the fact to add this stipulation into my will? If I went before my parents they would just put my kids down as recipients of that inheritance anyway.

Don't do this without using a solicitor. It doesn't sound that straightforward.
Also, if you do a mirror with with a partner, after death of first one there is nothing to stop the second one writing new Will, as l have found out since it happened to someone l know.

Contact Marlow Wills she is a mner marvellous and affordable service on line.

The easiest way to do this would be for your parents (and grandparents if they are planning on leaving funds to you) to leave your (share) of inheritance on trust for you and your children. This can ring fence the funds to keep them separate. After their death, the trust could either be actively managed with investments or set up with a loan to you. This would be repaid to the trust on your death and the terms of the trust stipulate it then passes to your children. There are 2 main different types of trust (life interest or discretionary) which have different IHT consequences in your estate and during the running of the trust depending on the values involved (if values below the tax thresholds there may be no tax implications). If you did not want to discuss this with them you could potentially set this up via deed of variation after their death (provided you are still alive, have capacity and the rules don’t change). The additional advantage to the trust would be that the trustees could potentially decide (in accordance with a letter of wishes left by you parents) when the children get the funds and trustees can make sure they are responsible enough (and not about to get divorced/ bankrupt/ drugs/ controlling partner/ gambling etc). They need to talk to a STEP qualified will specialist not a will writer as they are not regulated and insured in the same way. If the security and ring fencing is important to you, this is not a DIY job.

I assume you will need to keep some of the inheritance money so here’s a plan:

1. Talk to your relatives about making sure their wills say if you predecease them the inheritance intended for you goes to your children.

2. Make a will and set up power of attorney (health and finance). Don’t bother with mirrored wills.

3. When you inherit from relatives either put money into trust for your children (or just ISAs) or amend your will with that amount going to DCs. You may need postnup type agreement from your DH that the inheritance isn’t marital asset.

4. Review your finances regularly and update will as needed.

This is far too complicated for a DIY online Will.

Do you really want to leave your own estate to your DH rather than to your children? What if he remarried and then the new wife inherits what was yours? Second wives often do not honour their DH’s children…especially if they were his step children!

Thank you all, very sage advice. I'll look at meeting with a solicitor and just sorting my own will out, my husband will eventually but he's not too fussed. In any case, if he went first I would instantly give a chunk to all three of his kids and he trusts that.

I spoke to mum who said if I died first she would leave it direct to kids, dad has said the same (they are divorced). If not I'll put a chunk in trust/direct to my kids. She is remarried but has a will.
My dad is remarried and if they both die together it goes 3 ways between me and my step siblings, I've said I will automatically put a chunk of that into trust for the kids, or hopefully it will be so long in the future I can give it to them directly as they'll be old enough. Same from my grandmother if she doesn't leave any to kids I'll put a chunk in trust for them.

I have discovered since doing this that my dad and step mum don't have a will and their estate is over a million. My mum was in a situation where her dad didn't have one and it (including what her dad and inherited from her mum) and it all went to his wife who then disinherited my mum and left it all to her drug addled son who disappeared so my mum got £0. I trust my step mum not to do tht as we're very close but I did say best they just do a will anyway 😂

Anything I spend from my inheritance I'll update in my will at that time to go to back to kids upon my death.
My husband will then get my remaining 'estate' including pension (public sector so a big one), death in service if I die while working, life insurance and then property/ies shares etc.

Sounds sensible and phew that you found out about the lack of wills now!

I still think it’s worth getting their wills to have predecease clause. If you died whilst they have dementia (which could go on for years) they wouldn’t be able to amend the will and it would go to your DH, which could be huge hassle whilst he’s grieving.

re your husband, wills aren’t just about where the money goes. Naming executors means it’s much easier to deal with estates, even simple but urgent things like paying for funeral. If you have an executor who later loses capacity or wouldn’t cope you should update your will. Financial and health power of attorney is essential too - you can set these up yourself.

To add - get your parents to do power of attorney too and register their health ones with GP. Dementia can come on so fast. People think their spouse automatically has power to handle things but they don’t.