Who would inherit in this scenario?

[Nameychangeee]

No will.

2 DC that are still young children.

In a relationship with DC’s mother but not married. DC’s Mother a SAHM - financially dependent.

All live together.

1 parent still alive but in her 70s.

DC’s mother named on life insurance policy and pension.

Own a house with a small mortgage on entirely in their own name.

Who would inherit everything in this scenario?

House alone is way over the £270,000 threshold but still has a mortgage on it.

Please no comments stating “get married!” as this isn’t relevant. I just want to know who would inherit - I am sure this must happen quite often.

I know it should be DC to inherit - but who would “look after” the money/house etc until they were 18?

www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will

The person's parents is nok aren't they?

This doesn’t answer my question unfortunately.

Are the children his?
Is he named on the birth certificate?

Why would his mum be named as beneficiary of pension? That literally makes no sense.

It is the SAHM named as the pension beneficiary

The OP means the children’s mother, their partner, is the beneficiary of the pension.
OP, the children would automatically inherit the estate. As the house is solely in the deceased persons name, it could end up that after the death, whomever manages the finances of the children could sell the house and leave the mother homeless should they choose to do so.
The courts would determine who should manage the children’s inheritance, however they would be entitled to their share when they turn 18.
The value of the house is meaningless - how much is it worth and how much is the mortgage?

The DC's mum would get this:

DC’s mother named on life insurance policy and pension.

Named beneficiary has to be followed even it was the cat's home.

The children would inherit, the life insurance, death in service benefits and pension may go to their mother, but it would all end up going through probate

Once someone has a child, a deceased person's parents are out of the picture

If someone dies without a spouse or children, then the deceased's parents inherit, failing that, the deceased's siblings

No one, without a blood tie will be considered

Yes and yes.

It answers your question of who would inherit.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/family/death-and-wills/who-can-inherit-if-there-is-no-will-the-rules-of-intestacy#:~:text=Children%20do%20not%20receive%20their,civil%20partnership%20under%20this%20age. www.citizensadvice.org.uk/family/death-and-wills/who-can-inherit-if-there-is-no-will-the-rules-of-intestacy/#:~:text=Children%20do%20not%20receive%20their,civil%20partnership%20under%20this%20age.]]]]

The statutory trust for children under 18 - the expectation is that the trustees would be whoever sorts the estate. So likely to be the DC's mother, especially if you are living together and your parent is unwilling/unable to do this.

The DC's mother could probably apply to take money from the estate to provide a home. If there is a mortgage, the house may have to be sold.

Thank you.

I know the children would inherit everything, but who would usually be the one left to manage the finances for the children (eg. Who would decide whether the house was sold, who would manage the trust) - their mum or the deceased’s mother?

Is there life insurance to cover the mortgage? Or is the only life insurance the one that names the unmarried partner as a beneficiary?

That could be messy, as if the mortgage isn't paid off then presumably the mother and children are homeless, unless the mother uses the other life insurance to buy the house (she owns it fully) or at least pay off the mortgage (and become part owner with the children who inherit).

Even if the mortgage is paid by separate life insurance, it's still messy as the children can't inherit until they are 18. This means setting up a trust in the meantime. Presumably the estate doesn't get wound up until this is done and everyone in limbo in meantime. A friend had to set up a trust recently for a child whose parent died, it took several months.

The answer is make a will, and or get married, and or the unmarried partner makes sure she can financially support herself and the children.

In the kindest way, "who" is dying in this scenario?

I'd have thought the link above would address the issue. As it sounds like there's 2 under-18s, with parents who are unmarried? If that's the case, the the under-18s inherit - as the partner (being unmarried) has no automatic right to inherit, and no will to make other arrangements.
What they'd inherit would depend on which parent - perhaps some cash and / or value of the house (less mortgage). Although if you mean that one of the parents only owns the house, then if it's that partner who dies then they have an asset to be inherited - if the parent who dies is the one who doesn't own the home, then no asset.

Workplace pensions tend to fall outside of estates .... so any benefits (incl perhaps death-in-service) you'd expect to go to whoever was nominated, or as trustee / administrator discretion allows.

If they children remain under-18 at the death, the assets would likely be held in trust.

Rough rule of thumb - if no will, then "rules of intestacy" apply; so if you don't like how they'd apply, then either marry / civil partner and / or make a will.

Are you the father of the children in this scenario, or are you the mother of the children?

You’re clearly concerned that the ‘wrong’ person might be in charge of the trust for the children, but I’m not sure who you think is the wrong person…

The father of the children could leave an ‘expression of wishes’ form to indicate they’d like the children’s trust to be handled by their partner not their parent. Or marriage would solve it.

If the father of the children won’t do either and you have concerns about security after their death then obviously that’s shit.

Clearly the person writing the post is the children’s mother and she is worried that if her partner dies his parents will get to control the money and leave her homeless and screwed.

Whomever the courts decide if theres any dispute. The children’s mother can apply for Letters of Administration on behalf of the children if she so wishes.

Basically, yes! Although it doesn’t apply to me, but some family members of ours.

The children inherit, as you understand. The second part of the question is impossible for anyone to answer. As an unmarried partner you would have no rights over the deceased 's estate. What that means in reality is that the parents would be the ones making all funeral decisions, dealing with any non joint bank accounts, and dealing with probate, which would include setting up the trust for the kids. As far as who the trustee or trustees would be, unless partner and parent were able to agree this between themselves it would have to go to court to decide who the trustee/ trustees would be.

Well that's the problem in your scenario ..... and I'm not sure if you're the father (the one who has died in this scenario) and concerned about who will "look after" your money on behalf of the children. Or if you are the mother, and potentially homeless in this event, worried that someone else (MIL?) could be managing said money.

Upshot is you don't know .... because you're not in a situation where the rules of intestacy would apply to you as the unmarried partner, nor is there a will (which might contain detail of who the deceased person wanted to manage the money). You'd probably like to hazard a guess that the mother (of the U18s) was in the loop somehow, all else being equal. But back to the earlier point .... if you want a certain thing to happen (or be the likely outcome), you've got to be proactive about it.

I see you've noted that the rough scenario is as some of us thought, but perhaps not you directly rather others in your family.

The other thing to state is that the rules of intestacy vary by country (and country within the UK). I've assumed you / they are in England that the estate goes to children where there's no will - in Scotland for example, you could expect the estate to be shared between surviving children AND surviving parents.

I am surprised that there isn’t a ‘right answer’ here as I would imagine this scenario isn’t that uncommon!

Just incase my initial post wasn’t clear…

Man and women aren’t married.

They have 2 young children together.

They live in the same house together that is owned solely by the man. The house is worth nearly £1M and has a small mortgage on.

The man has a life insurance policy that the woman is the beneficiary of. She is also the beneficiary of his pension.

The woman is a stay at home mum who is financially reliant on the man.

If he dies, the children would inherit his assets and house.

However who would be in charge of looking after the money in trust for the children? Would it be the woman or the man’s mother who is in her 70s?

The woman would not be able to afford to pay off the remainder of the house, however the life insurance does include a payment to pay off the outstanding mortgage balance.

So the questions are:
What would happen to the house? If it were sold the money would belong to DC.

Who would look after the children’s trusts?

Would money from the trust be able to be used to the DC’s upbringing?

And I suppose that's because the law provides for certain circumstances (rules of intestacy); then wills provide for other circumstances (specific to you, or where you don't want the default etc). Beyond that, the people involved have actively chosen (appreciate element of choice may be debatable) to take a chance on what happens after they die.