Partner bankrupt/ protecting children's inheritance

[libraladies]

My partner was declared bankrupt some
years ago. He is out of the woods now and all suns paid back. He believes he will never get a mortgage again as his ratings will be bad forever .
We are getting serious andI see us as a long term couple .
I have a small mortgage on my own home which will be paid in three years.
If we do get married in the future, is there a way to protect my own children's inheritance(house/ pension ) .
He fully agrees with this but because of my experience with ex h I can never trust a persons promise regarding finances again , especially when I am
Passed and am
Oblivious !
Is there a way to do this?
We will never be able to buy together if that means him getting half a mortgage I expect , although he will have decent savings to contribute if there was a way round this. Thanks .

If becoming bankrupt was the result of money choices he made then you need to run like the wind now. Dont start entangling yourself with someone who is that irresponsible with money, even though they've now been forced to pay it back. That sort of lack of self control often manifests in lack of self control in other areas too. Whether you marry or not, the relationship will end in your tears so get out now.

Becoming bankrupt was the result of getting a huge mortgage pre property bust/ recession followed by job loss and ex wife deciding next t to work after having their baby . They simply couldn't pay their debts. I don't judge him because he declared bankrupt .

IMO it doesn’t really matter why he was bankrupt. You need to protect your DC, and your home.

If you were both young and child free with no desire to have children it would be different.

And what about actual advice for those who DO want to marry and are in the OPs position?

All I see on MN when a woman asks this is 'don't get married'. Well some people want to and want to take steps to protect their assets. Why can't there be some actual advice on this?

If I understand correctly OP, any future property you could buy together becoming tenants in common rather than joint and set out what your share is each. Then in you Will you can leave your share to your DCs, giving your husband a lifetime interest to live there.

I am currently updating my Will after divorce and asked if remarrying would automatically mean my assets going to a husband upon my death and they said not necessarily.

Pretty much the whole point of marriage is to share finances.
You’d need to see a solicitor to see if ring-fencing asserts is possible within a marriage as In the UK pre-nups aren’t legally enforceable.
However if you don’t want to share your assets the absolute easiest way to do it is to not marry. It really isn’t rocket science.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stack_v_Dowden

Notable case law in a situation like yours.

As others said: keep your finances and accounts separate. So not marry and don’t let him pay for upkeep and renovations on the house.

Oh Chris. Bankruptcy is actually really common and can happen for lots of reasons. I don’t know why it’s still such a dirty word. We are going to see a lot of bankruptcy very soon after this shit show.

After six years your partner can start applying for credit/mortgage and you can ring fence any money you put in to a house.

You can make a will leaving all your property to your children. Getting married doesn’t stop you doing that. The issue is during your lifetimes you could divorce and he would be entitled to ask for a share of your assets as a settlement.

No
In woolly terms

Even if the will leaves everything to the children if they are married it will be easily contested and the assumption would be that she left her share of the assets .,, half the house... to the children

An Aunt of mine owned a beautiful home outright after being widowed at quite a young age, she had a handful of live-in partners over the years but never remarried. She had a very clear Will leaving her entire estate to her children. When she died her DP claimed that he was financially dependent on her (as has already been mentioned) and her children had to give him half of the value of the house - a LOT of money - to rehome himself.

Tread very carefully OP

Bankruptcy issues aside, why do you want to marry?

Marriage works well for a team bringing up children, where one stays at home and the other earns the money. It is a legal partnership in which the assets belong to the partnership.

You have your own income, your own property.

As an unmarried couple you can buy together and buy as tenants in common, retaining ownership of your own specified share of the house.

As an unmarried couple you can still look after each other’s interests: you could leave your house, or share of house, to your children but give him the right to live in it until his death.

You could make your children and him beneficiaries of your pension in named amounts, if you have a private pension.

How old are your children? Are they still living with you / dependent?

If you get married and buy together make sure you buy as tenants in common and split the percentage by your contribution. So if you put in 65% and he puts in 35% you own 65% and he 35% of the property.

Make sure you write a will each via a solicitor. Also get advice on how you can ensure your children get what you want them to.

If you have life cover for a mortgage make sure it goes into trust.

If you just live together make sure you get a cohabitation agreement set up because there is such a thing as a 'beneficial interest' and it is possible he could earn a stake in the property if you don't. Again speak to a solicitor.

Why on earth would you risk getting married and losing your and your childrens home?
There is just no need to get married in this day and age, it isn't romantic at all marriage is a purely legal transaction giving both parties shared assets which can be divided if they divorce.
It would be incredibly irresponsible and unfair on your children.
We all think the great romance is going to last forever but approximately 50% of marriages end in divorce now.
Protect your children's assets first and foremost.
You can still have a happy partnership and exchange rings without marriage.
My marriage to someone who had no money or home of his own whilst I did was the great romance that was going to be forever and he dumped me after 20 years for another woman. I learnt my lesson from that and am now living in a small house half the size with a courtyard garden in a town when I used to live in my own lovely big house in a national park.I'll never get married again, not ever.
The divorce rate fopr second marriages especially where there are children is much much higher.

If you marry it doesn’t matter how you bought the property!

Realistically if you get married at least 50%of your estate will go to him.
As others have advised if protecting inheritance is a priority dont get married. Can you maybe get a blessing instead?

If your not planning on buying for a few years then you have options
First see if your DH behaves financially 😂
Was he bankrupt through stupidity and overspending or just had luck

Let him build up his Credit rating and watch how he is with money .in my husbands case it was being young stupid and having a partner and two small kids and the early 90 recession so a combination . He lost a house and a flat but because he went bankrupt they couldn’t get anything - his ex wife refused and they were still hounding her for money years later as she was making minimal payments on something she wouldn’t ever pay off . In fact even when she bought with her new partner 12 years later she couldn’t go on the mortgage because she was still being pursued .

In my experience It will take approx three years from the bankruptcy off his file to get to a top number 999 credit rating if he works for it
So start of with a credit card run it up to the limit and pay it off do this consistently & never get a late payment
If you are an additional card holder you can use the card and pay it off do this as much as possible
After a year apply for a small loan of 1k
Pay it off early
Apply for another credit card and do the same
Put him on the electoral roll
Get a Phone contract
Never go overdrawn or get a late payment

My DH was bankrupt over 20 years ago actually he was bankrupt just as we met
But within 3 years of it being off his credit card he pretty much had a 999 percent credit score and has kept that ever since:
I used his credit cards to build up the credit rating as mentioned above as I had a much higher income than him .
I would literally spend up to the limit every month and pay it off in full everything I bought was paid for on the credit card
Occasionally I would pay a bit of interest 😂to look human
Then just applied for a higher limit and just went from there
We now have several properties and buy to let’s got the first property 3 years after being made bankrupt.
Never had a problem leasing multiple cars
Loans always go through with no additional checks
And he has several credit cards with over 20k limits on them - none of them really get used much apart from the ones that I use 😂

So it can be done but I wouldn’t marry your partner in your situation as you have to much to lose but if shows he’s responsible with money over the next few years then he option of downsizing and giving your kids a deposit and then considering what you want to do at that point

Sorry that was wrong
Once the bankruptcy dropped of his credit file which was 3 years after being made bankrupt it took another 3 years to build up his credit rating to a point where he was able to buy
Back then credit search only went back 3 years so once the bankruptcy dropped off creditors didn’t see it
Not sure if it’s the same process now

I work in finance. It takes 6 years for a bankruptcy to drop off a credit file.

Op, inheritance in death is one factor but depending on your age, divorce is a much more realistic concern.

No one plans to divorce but 2nd marriages have a higher risk of failure so it's always worth assessing the impact on finances.

If you bought a joint house with a mortgage and divorced consider if you could afford to pay for it solely, especially if you were older and if you had given your children the inheritance. Divorce after a medium to long term marriage will impact finances especially if you are the financially stronger partner. That's the law.

You could always have a humanist wedding ceremony if you want to do the whole 'commiting to each in front of your friends and family' thing without being legally tied to him. Humanist weddings aren't currently legally binding in England...
humanism.org.uk/ceremonies/non-religious-weddings/

If you want to marry look at putting your property into a PPPT

"The Probate Preservation Plus Trust (PPPT) is essentially Lifetime Asset Protection Planning. It is available for both Single clients and Couples, who wish to place the family home into Trust in their lifetime, thus protecting those assets from potential attack from: ♦ Divorce. ♦ Creditors / Bankruptcy.

My late Mum was in your situation. Lovely new partner who had... Not the best record when it came to financial choices.
She went to see a solicitor about maybe getting married (bear in mind, marriage invalidates previous wills unless "made in contemplation of marriage").
Solicitor said,
"If you want to keep control over your own money and property, don't.get.married!"
She redid her will so her partner could live in her house after he died (unless he died, remarried, cohabitated or moved out e.g.into care).
That would seem to be the way to go - sort out wills, powers of attorney etc (get an adult child to be finance PoA for you!) so you take care of him but without risking your own security.

Prenup and will after you get married countersigned by him to acknowledge that your kids are the beneficiary of your house. You will need to also include a clause as to how long he would have to leave if you die before him as this is sometimes the sticking point eg he has 6 month or one year to move out. He should not be contributing to major renovations though sharing bills is fine. It's not watertight as others have said but not everyone is out to steal kids inheritances. If you end up buying together you buy as tenants in common to protect your kids shares