How do i safeguard my kids inheritance from stepchild

meer53

The OP says they had a huge row and she has now seen a different side to her husband. Maybe now is not a good time to be asking him to make a will ! Really should have been sorted out before now though.

daska

meer53 wrote: »

The OP says they had a huge row and she has now seen a different side to her husband. Maybe now is not a good time to be asking him to make a will ! Really should have been sorted out before now though.

No, but it sounds like a brilliant time for her to make one!

OP - you might want to enquire about the possibility of putting as much of your estate as possible in trust if your children are minors.

Terrano

Thanks everyone for the replys, his son is 25, my children are 14 and 16. I will have to get legal advice for both of us, but as someone posted now isn't the right time. When we bought the house initially i couldn't put my name on the mortgage, but the legal adviser also said it wasn't a big deal because we had equal rights, i was a stay at home mum, but i also invested 50 of purchase price from the sale of my previous house. I have no intentions of excluding his son. I don't have a clue about joint tenants or tenants in common.
As i now understand in Scottish law the house would become my house, it is re-payment mortgage. His life insurance policies and any assets would be shared, equally? between me and his son? He would be a wealthy boy. The other way at least my kids would benefit in the same way.

NAR

skypie123 wrote: »

Yawn...

And your contribution to this thread is??

And yes you're right, I'm not listening to you, you haven't actually said anything of note yet.

As I do not know how Scottish law affects the OP and their questions, I have had the good sense not to guess or make meaningless comment.

daska

Terrano wrote: »

Thanks everyone for the replys, his son is 25, my children are 14 and 16. I will have to get legal advice for both of us, but as someone posted now isn't the right time. When we bought the house initially i couldn't put my name on the mortgage, but the legal adviser also said it wasn't a big deal because we had equal rights, i was a stay at home mum, but i also invested 50 of purchase price from the sale of my previous house. I have no intentions of excluding his son. I don't have a clue about joint tenants or tenants in common.
As i now understand in Scottish law the house would become my house, it is re-payment mortgage. His life insurance policies and any assets would be shared, equally? between me and his son? He would be a wealthy boy. The other way at least my kids would benefit in the same way.

There isn't 'joint tenants' etc under Scottish law but there's a similar system (which I put a link to an explanation of earlier). You might be able to check your exact situation via the Land Registry if you don't have easy access to the deeds and don't want to discuss this with him at present.

Your biggest potential problem with ensuring that your children inherit their fair share of your estate is (assuming they are not your husband's children) if you died intestate and the bulk of the estate passed to your husband. That would then become his estate and they would AFAIK have no claim on it when he then passed away. Hence my suggestion of investigating the possibility of setting up a trust (these aren't limited to minors).

I really would urge you to get proper legal advice rather than relying on what anyone says on here - including me!

Mojisola

daska wrote: »

Your biggest potential problem with ensuring that your children inherit their fair share of your estate is (assuming they are not your husband's children) if you died intestate and the bulk of the estate passed to your husband. That would then become his estate and they would AFAIK have no claim on it when he then passed away.

And his son could lose out if he died first so you can raise the issue with your husband as a joint problem - you both need to ensure some security for the next generation.

rpc

Terrano wrote: »

His life insurance policies and any assets would be shared, equally? between me and his son? He would be a wealthy boy. The other way at least my kids would benefit in the same way.

You want life insurance kept out of the estate if possible, by putting it in trust.

Once prior and legal rights are satisfied, the residue is distributed according to a hierarchy. Children are top of that list, so they would take the entire residue to themelves. Spouses are fifth. With no will, you will get prior and legal rights only. The children will (in equal shares) get legal rights and everything else that is left.

Assuming that prior rights covers all heritable property, the moveables would end up being split on-third to you and two-thirds shared between the children. That two-thirds is one-third legal rights and one-third according to the hierarchy. You can control that last one-third by writing a will.

It is also important, although probably irrelevant at the moment, that if any of the children predecease then their share (under both legal rights and other rights arising through intestacy) is distributed to their issue per stirpes. e.g. if the stepson predeceases and leaves children, those children will inherit his share under legal rights and any other rights for an intestate.

rpc

Mojisola wrote: »

And his son could lose out if he died first so you can raise the issue with your husband as a joint problem - you both need to ensure some security for the next generation.

His son has legal rights to one-ninth of his dad's estate. If OP husband dies intestate, stepson would inherit two-ninths of the estate. That is potentially less than they would receive if OP died first but it is far from the nothing that would happen if OP husband died intestate under English law.

But anyway, MAKE A WILL.

Errata

rpc wrote: »

You want life insurance kept out of the estate if possible, by putting it in trust.



te.

Surely life insurance is outwith an estate? It doesn't exist until the assured dies.

rpc

Errata wrote: »

Surely life insurance is outwith an estate? It doesn't exist until the assured dies.

Unless taken out by someone else, or placed in trust, the benefit pays out to the deceased.

See https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1777959