Will question:

cte1111

One thing is clear from this thread - you and your OH need to sort this out ASAP! I'd suggest you first talk to him to clarify what he would like to happen. If he is happy for the house to sold, the mortgage paid from the proceeds then the residue going to his children, then that needs to be made clear in his will.

If he would want his children to inherit the house outright, then he should either take out life insurance to cover the outstanding mortgage or state that the mortgage should be re-paid from his other assets. Again that needs to be in his will. If his only other asset is your jointly owned house in France, then that obviously causes you a problem, which you need to discuss with him.

Mojisola

Seanymph wrote: »

This house is tied up to be left to each other - and was bought in such a way as to make this possible - we will have seperate french wills (when I get around to it)

This is quite worrying - under French intestate laws, the spouse receives very little.

https://www.french-property.com/guides/france/finance-taxation/inheritance/rights/surviving-spouse/

Mojisola

Seanymph wrote: »

it may be that the mortgage not being paid would mean they house would be repossessed, and only the remainder would go to his children which may well not be acceptable to him.

That wouldn't happen. The executor is responsible for all the debts. No money or assets should be distributed until all the debts are paid.

Seanymph

Thanks Mojisola, I know about the french inheritance laws, it's why we didn't buy anything until after we were married, and why we had to pay an exorbitant sum to a notaire to draw up additional paperworks and process it in a particular way. I just looked it up - we bought it 'en tontine'.

Both my english and french solicitors say it won't be included in our english estates - and in france we have it left solely to each other.

We have to have a will to ensure that our other estate in france is distributed as we wish, but as that currently stands at about 400 Euros in our account out there I am not that fussed

It's the English end that worries me.

Thrugelmir

Decreasing life assurance to cover the repayment of the mortgage in the event of death would suffice. That would leave the asset unencumbered.

getmore4less

has he not injected £80k of premarital assets into the marital assets, effectively giving you £40k for the French house.

Simple you sell the French place to pay off the mortgage things are then back as they were.

Seanymph

I don't think he'll want to do that - but Thrugelmir's suggestion seems the most sensible to me, so I'll look into that, and as cte1111 suggests clarify what he would like.

Signing the wills as they are currently drawn isn't a solution unless the insurance is in place it appears - which was my suspicion.

getmore4less

Seanymph wrote: »

I don't think he'll want to do that - but Thrugelmir's suggestion seems the most sensible to me, so I'll look into that, and as cte1111 suggests clarify what he would like.

Signing the wills as they are currently drawn isn't a solution unless the insurance is in place it appears - which was my suspicion.

I think you missed my point, which is if he dies you sell the French place to restore the position.

Another option is you mortgage your place for £40k so you are back to even, you then will have both injected £40k each into the marital pot.

As it stands if the intention is that each of your kids get your pre marital assets. then there is an £80k debt to the marital assets, this will need to be cleared or have some insurance.

If you are using your house as the marital home you also need to consider that he may have rights to stay there rather than it pass immediately to your children, more complicated if the children are currently minors as they cannot inherit immediately there shares get hekd on trust and the default trustees(needs 2) are the executors.

Have you considered substitute executors in the case you both die?
(inc. guardians if kids are minors).

Brighty

You were making it sound like you were going to be hard done by, being lumbered with an 80k debt on a house you don't own while his kids own a house 'free and clear' when in actual fact the 80k was used to buy a house in France which you will own 'free and clear. Think it's his kids that would be hard done by if they were lumbered with the debt. From a moral point of view that 80k should be down to you, clear it how you like, by mortgaging or selling either your home or the place in France. Really you should have raised a 40k mortgage each for the French place for it to have been fair. Think your OH needs to revisit his will to make sure the 80k doesn't come out of the kids share, especially as you are the executor.

Brighty

Seanymph

Thank you both for your concern on his behalf.


We are both happy with my contribution to our situation - but obviously I simplified it to post it onto the forum (see my comment about not airing TOO much laundry!). And as you can see several times I have looked at how to address it ie. insurance, my sentences are for clarification - I have not expressed what I want to happen or not - it's about making sure what we are trying to achieve happens if one of us is lost.


In fact, at the risk of sounding defensive three posts ago I put this:


Whether it's through insurance on the mortgage, changing the wills wording, or ensuring we pay it back quicker....... As you can see all of these options are about ensuring the debt does NOT go with the property.

Having spent £480 on wills it is pointless if they do not serve purpose now a mortgage has been raised on his property - I needed to understand the ramifications before they could be amended - it would strike me, as I said, that decreasing life insurance seems to be the best solution.

So I will discuss it with my husband and we will work to sort out that his wishes will be carried out once we both understand and can discuss a solution.


It's always better to address these things as they come up.