Unmarried with a child, what is legal status?

kiara77

Hi,I have looked at lots of sites but I am hoping that someone can clarify things properly for me. My partner and I are unmarried and have a baby, also we live in Scotland.

Until now I hadnt really bothered too much about the fact that the house belongs to my partner but now that I have a baby I want to make sure we are financially secure should anything happen to my partner. At the moment, his Will leaves everything to his father who would then pass everything to me. I have no concerns that his father would not do this.

My concerns are that his father is quite old and should he pass away and the will not be changed, I am not sure what would then happen should my partner pass away. I know its a lot of 'ifs' but as they say truth is stranger than fiction. I have no will at present either!

The other concern I have is that I am going to be working part-time once I return to work. I have a well paid job and have happily decided to put promotion opportunities etc to one side whilst we have a family but dont expect to work full time for the forseeable future. How will this affect my pension? If my partner decided to leave me in the future would I have to work on longer?

I would very much like to get married but my partner does not see why marriage is neccessary. Are there other things I can do in the meantime to make things more secure financially for our family?

Thanks

starbump

In general, if your FIL dies and then your partner dies (intestate) then his estate would go to your child. Likewise, if you die then your estate would go to your child. This includes quite a clear list of succession rights: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/12/05115128/51285

Not sure about your pension problem. I know you can't claim on your partner's state pension record as you are not married.

devils_advocate

Get yourself to a solicitor to make wills, and to explain the laws of succession.

Consider a theoretical situation, and how it would affect you. (Sorry, don't want to get too personal) Assuming your partner and his father were in a car crash. Partner dies at the scene, his father dies in the ambulance an hour later. Your partner's estate passes to his father under the will, and then his father's estate passes to whoever is in his will (or under the laws of intestate succession). So depending if your daughter's grandfather had a will or not, your daughter could end up with nothing.

Your daughter would have legal rights against her father's estate which she could claim, but depending on the size of the estate and whether it was made up of propery or other assets, she could end up with a small proportion, with the rest going to other relatives of your partner's father. You have no legal rights against your partner's or his father's estates, and I don't think that your daughter has legal rights against her grandfather's estate.

So its a lot better to have wills made to cover the 'what if' situations.

Note - the above is based on Scots law when I studied it more than 20 years ago. I don't think that it will have changed fundamentally, though I am open to correction!