Wills and step families.

CLAPTON

sloughflint wrote: »

That's interesting.

Here's a scenario that crossed my mind somewhere else on this forum and your post reminded me of it.

What if you sadly died and left all to your husband. Your husband eventually remarried so his old Will became invalid. What if he was a bit slow in getting himself organised to having a fresh Will written ( with the intention of including your son) and sadly died.
Wouldn't intestacy laws mean that your son gets nothing?

If my thinking is correct, shouldn't solicitors be talking through potential problems rather than merely dish out some statistics?

I think that sloughflint makes some excellent points here. Many people wouldn't realise the marriage nullifies a will plus the simple inertia factor..

sloughflint

CLAPTON wrote: »

Many people wouldn't realise the marriage nullifies a will plus the simple inertia factor..

No and why should they? I've not come across that particular scenario but I have come across several others that would have been easily avoidable with proper advice.

My view is that solicitors are not only paid to write Wills but also to provide decent advice in the first place.
My experience of them has been far from great ranging from negligence to complete misinterpretation of the law and these have been solicitors claiming to specialise in Wills and probate ( but not STEP members):rolleyes:

sandiep

My husband's business is House Clearances, we see families divided and squabbles over wills every week. It is very sad but many small family rivalries and simmering resentments all seem to boil over when any disagreement over a will arises.

My family do wills really badly. My great auntie left cash gifts to her children and the balance of her estate to her remaining brothers and sisters, and then didn't update her will in the next 50 years subsequent to her husband's death. So her children got left £100 and her elderly brothers and sisters got left a balance of over £100k to share between 2 of them. Luckily, they were a sensible family and redistributed it along the wishes that my great auntie wanted.

But, put a couple of step children, and a second spouse into that equation, and it would be a nightmare.

As I said earlier, you have to assume that circumstances will change, and that fairness as you see it now may not exist at that future point. And if you have definite wishes you need to set them in concrete.

Errata

Some people put off making a will because they "don't like thinking about dying" Some people don't think there's any need to make a will. Some people make one and that's that as far as they're concerned.
The sensible approach is to make one, just in case you die. Like you have house insurance, just in case the house burns down.
Then review the will at regular intervals - just like you do with house insurance.

Mojisola

isayoldchap wrote: »

My father, who has four sons from his previous marriage, has included in the joint will with his wife(my mother), that a small gift of about £20 for each son from his previous marriage ,is left to them.Also he signed a letter that was asked to be included with the will
sighting that the children(now adults)may no efforts in making contacts over many years to which he has come to the decision to leave them a pittance.

I had no idea that they were entitled to anything.That's why I was surprised to read this in 'This is Money'

A will is a much easier way of making it clear where everyone stands. Stepchildren can contest a will on the grounds that as dependants a reasonable provision has not been made for them. If someone makes it clear in their will why they are not leaving anything to a stepchild, it is often easier for the matter to be dealt with. When the children have grown into adults, it is increasingly difficult to contest a will.'

Wouldn't that only apply if they were living with him at the time of his death as dependents?

My parents' legacies give different amounts to their children and they, too, have a letter with their will, explaining the reasons. Everyone is in agreement with the way things are divided now but, after their deaths, who knows how people will feel so the letter is an insurance that the wills are not contested.

localhero

Only certain categories of people are entitled to challenge a Will, and whether they succeed or not will depend on the circumstances.

They are: Spouse, ex spouse if they are receiving maintenance, somebody living with you when you die, your children (infant or adult), and that includes stepchildren if you had treated them as a child of yours, and anybody else dependant on you.

They need not be living in your home to be considered dependant, for if you had been supporting them financially when you die, they would be considered 'dependant'.

Where you decide to disinherit an adult child who you are not supporting in any way, the chances of them successfully contesting your Will are very remote, and therefore the costs of making a challenge are usually enough to discourage them.

That said, because the value of people's estates have been increasing, so have the number of Wills that are challenged.

The advice often given is make a small gift in the Will so that they cannot argue they have been 'overlooked' or worse still, state the reasons in the Will why nothing has been given to them. This is poor advice, as the Will will become a public document - its contents available for all to see. It also provides ammunition to those that are disinherited to attack if they disagree.

The best option is to write a separate letter and keep it with the Will (but don't attach it) addressed to your executors stating that you have intentionally not made a gift to such and such and briefly state the reasons why. If the person(s) does make a challenge then the document will be considered by the court along with all the other circumstances.

Anyone wishing to challenge a Will has six months from when the Grant of Probate was obtained and that deadline generally won't be increased.

It is the Will drafter's responsibility to advise of the potential problems and to make sure that if a challenge materialises, is unlikely to be successful. That includes ensuring the Will was properly signed and witnessed, that the person making the Will still had the mental capacity to do so and also that there was no undue influence from others in the decision making. These are all areas that are vulnerable if particular care is not taken.

localhero

Mojisola wrote:

Would the survivor have to live in the house for the rest of their life or could they sell and move to another house? Would it be the house itself that is inherited or the value of half the property?

Mojisola, if the Will is written properly it should allow the survivor to move, and it should also state what would happen if there is a surplus from a sale (ie the survivor downsizes). For example the surviving spouse may be given the income from the capital until they die or they may not.

For the sake of clarity, there should also be a written agreement stating what percentage of the house you each own so that when the house is eventually sold (for example when the second spouse dies) there is no uncertainty what each spouse's estate consists of.

whitewing

sloughflint wrote: »

That's interesting.

Here's a scenario that crossed my mind somewhere else on this forum and your post reminded me of it.

What if you sadly died and left all to your husband. Your husband eventually remarried so his old Will became invalid. What if he was a bit slow in getting himself organised to having a fresh Will written ( with the intention of including your son) and sadly died.
Wouldn't intestacy laws mean that your son gets nothing?

If my thinking is correct, shouldn't solicitors be talking through potential problems rather than merely dish out some statistics?

Sloughflint,

The solicitors were really good actually. Yes, it does potentially mean son gets nothing. I understood that, and I also know that I can rewrite my will at such a time as it bothers me. I fully intend to rethink my will annually, even if I don't actually rewrite it. Experience tells me that a new wife is more likely to not want provision to include DS than to want provision. I decided that this, although very sad, would be acceptable to me.

There are personal items willed to my son.

I had to balance what would happen to my DH if I died before wills got rewritten, and what I can feasibly provide for DS' adult future. I love them both. There are more people around who could help DS financially, but who would not have the same responsibility to DH. If no one would help DS, he still is likely to be in a better position for the future than DH would be.

I am confident that I have made the right decision for me for the next few years. I can't give more info, unfortunately.

I don't expect to get an inheritance from my family (in that it would be very unlikely). I also am not going to squeeze through life in order to build up a large inheritance for DS.

If i won the lottery though, I would rewrite the will straight away!