Not sure about dad's will, opinions please

[SarahFx]

Okay, can I start off by saying that I like my dad's wife to be and I'm glad he's happy. I'm just trying to protect my younger brothers' interests.

Dad was widowed at 52 by my stepmother who was also 52. There was a 250k life insurance payout after her death which he used to take mortgages out on around 15 buy to let properties. He now manages properties for other people too and has a good income from it and the rental properties as well as a good pension. His total estate is worth around 350k.

I am the child of his first marriage (my mother is still alive) and as I will also inherit from my mother's side, my dad's will was always to be split three ways for his three children then my deceased stepmother's half was split between her two children. I was fine with this.

He met his new partner a couple of years ago and they will be married soon. She's never had any children and is 8 years younger than him. She's retired from a professional job and has a good pension. She also has several buy to let properties. They will be moving into a property owned by her when they marry and dad is planning on making 10s of thousands of improvements on it.

Anyway, just giving you some background. Dad has now said he's going to a solicitor to change his will to join it with his wife to be's as her estate is worth a similar amount as his instead of keeping his assets ring fenced. He said he'll be changing it to everything goes to her in the event of his death then it would all be equally divided in three for his three children when she died. So 700k three ways.

I can see many problems with this. What if she were to marry again following dad's death then change the will cutting his children out. Also I don't think I should get a third as I will inherit from my mother. My brothers are saying they don't want their mother's life insurance money spent on home improvements for dad's new wife (they were teenagers when their mother died so it was supposed to provide for them).

Should I say something to him or let him get on with it and hope the solicitor points these issues out to him? Epic post sorry but didn't want to dripfeed.

I understand that technically it would be one estate by the time your father's new wife dies, but is your father's assumption then that his new wife will be happy to leave her money to you and your brothers? Has he asked her if she has her own plans for her "half"?

I can see the issue with this tbh, my grandad did a similar thing, everything went to his second wife when he died 10 years ago, he had 6 adult children, none got anything and now I doubt there's much left

I don't mean that to sound grabby or that anyone should expect inheritance, it was his to do what he wanted with, but I also don't think he expected it to turn out the way it has

If she already has a good income his estate could be split between his children in the event of his death, rather than passing totally to her, because otherwise he really then can't control what could happen

She says she's happy to leave her half to us three as she has no children. She has two nephews though who were previously going to inherit half each. He said they would get a token amount each.

I know it sounds stupid me quibbling over this as I would actually get substantially more if it goes this way but I can see my brothers actually ending up with nothing as they don't have the amicable relationship i do with her. It's more raw for them with the early death of their mother.

I don't think it's my place to say anything though. I think it should come from my brothers.

That's a good suggestion about his estate passing to us on event of his death as she has the means to support herself anyway.

this happened to someone I knew - the father died very soon after marriage, the new wife took every penny, his children ended up with nothing. All the promises she had made before their marriage were gone back on. I would strongly advise you speak to your father about protecting his assets - there is nothing to stop her taking everything and not giving anyone a penny. Sad, I know - but perfectly possible.

That's awful, thanks Sandy. I have my own free legal advice through work so will ring them after the holidays.

Yes, if your brothers don't have a good relationship with your father's new wife, then it will be important to protect your father's wish that they inherit at least that money that might be regarded as his. Perhaps the other way round it is to give your stepmother a life interest in his assets; put the capital in a trust for you and the boys that is broken on your stepmother's death, the capital then being divided three ways between you and your brothers. The difference here is that the income from the capital sum during the period of your stepmother's widowhood can go to your stepmother, thus giving her additional income but not access to the capital sum. HTH.