Not got a will? Find out where your money'll go now ... its changed

lostinrates

My husband's mother died ten years ago without a will. The repurcusions of this STILL rumble on, as although her stuff in UK was dealt with fairly quickly she had stuff in another country too, and it has not yet been resolved. For ten years, through their higher education, the remarriage of their father and all of life's other ups and downs wranglings over the perceived injustices my husband and his siblings have had unnecessary stresses on their relationship with their father, each other, and the new people in the family (the new spouses) all caused by distrust and resentment over how this is being handled. It has caused irrevocable distrust and resentments and contributed to the poor mental health of one of her children. The bulk of her 'money' was in her home, I suppose it never occurred to her (she was a lawyer) that the value of this had gone up considerably since she bought it as a young woman, to when she died. Many homes woth not a lot when bought are now well over £250k and I would urge everyone, but particularly anyone with children to resolve this, so at least your children know that any decision you made was yours, and represents your own wishes.

HardSpend

I'm single with no kids / brothers / sisters / father

1. If I die does everything I have go to my mum?
2. What happens if we die together? I have cousins/uncles/aunties that live in other countries that I rarely speak to (only really during funerals...).

soco1

Her Maj & the State are welcome to my estate. I have no dependants or spouse/partner so don't care what is done with it all once I'm gone!

Suppose I could say I want certain %ages of my house/car/investments etc to go to various charities etc but have no real affliations to any so don't see any reason to write a will.
Only family I have are distant people that I've never met and don't even know the names of so they wouldn't be in any will if I did have one

State will need all it can get by then!

soco1

HardSpend wrote: »

I'm single with no kids / brothers / sisters / father

1. If I die does everything I have go to my mum?
2. What happens if we die together? I have cousins/uncles/aunties that live in other countries that I rarely speak to (only really during funerals...).

Check out this flowchart, it tells you what happens if you haven't got a will.
http://www.tenminutewill.co.uk/The-Intestacy-Laws.htm

Mojisola

postingsomething wrote: »

How do you check an existing will? Pretty sure I made one in the forces many years ago, but would like to amend it now. Thanks

You can't amend a will - it has to be rewritten so you might as well start from scratch.

DdraigGoch

Might I ask if the principle referred to by Mojisola above would apply in respect of codicils? I believe that you can "add" to a will, by means of such a legal vehicle.

I am divorced and remarried. I have not passed my property upon marriage to my spouse, but I believe that it automatically gets split half/half. Is this so? I ask as I still owe the mortgage half/half with my ex!!!

My husband [saint that he is] is more than happy with "lifelong use" and the children inheriting with possession after his death. What problems might this cause, if anyone knows?

I'm in two minds as to how to set up our wills. Whether to have it all go to him, should he predecease me it all goes to me/children half.half, or whether to give it all to the children with a life interest for him. All advice listened to with great interest.

Many thanks in advance
DG

HappySad

thanks for this valuable info.

buylessthings

Might I ask if the principle referred to by Mojisola above would apply in respect of codicils? I believe that you can "add" to a will, by means of such a legal vehicle.

I am divorced and remarried. I have not passed my property upon marriage to my spouse, but I believe that it automatically gets split half/half. Is this so? I ask as I still owe the mortgage half/half with my ex!!!

My husband [saint that he is] is more than happy with "lifelong use" and the children inheriting with possession after his death. What problems might this cause, if anyone knows?

I'm in two minds as to how to set up our wills. Whether to have it all go to him, should he predecease me it all goes to me/children half.half, or whether to give it all to the children with a life interest for him. All advice listened to with great interest.

Many thanks in advance
DG

DG - a 'worst case scenario' you might want to consider is that if your husband outlives you, and relations between him and your children deteriorate, then there could end up being some tension if he feels they are waiting for him to die / pressuring him to go into a care home so that they could inherit / have access to their former family home.

Obviously this might not happen, but it's one scenario that leaving someone a 'life interest' can result in.

Mojisola

DdraigGoch wrote: »

Might I ask if the principle referred to by Mojisola above would apply in respect of codicils? I believe that you can "add" to a will, by means of such a legal vehicle.

That's right - if a minor change needs to be done, you can write a codicil but, again, it needs to be kept in its original form - don't make any alterations or amendments to it - write a new one if changes are needed.

Babycakes

I want to leave my estate to my cat. How do I do that?