Married but renting, do we need wills?

Avo

We are married with one child, but rent our home. Do we need a will at this point?

Alter_ego

Only you can answer that

Mojisola

What will happen to your child if both of you die in an accident? Do you want to have any say in who cares for him/her?

Yorkshireman99

Avo wrote: »

We are married with one child, but rent our home. Do we need a will at this point?

Yes! If either of you die without (intestate) it is more complicated if you don't. Make sure you use a solicitor rather than a will writer.

Robin9

Renting has nothing to do with making a will.
You need to go through the what-if scenarios - I die, he dies, we both die, happens to our child ?

Savvy_Sue

Well, the alternative is a good understanding of the rules of intestacy, work your way through that for each of you dying before the other (I think if you effectively go together then it's assumed that the eldest died first) and see if you're completely happy with that, AND that those who'd have to take responsibility for sorting it all out are capable of doing so.

And although you can't 'leave' your children to anyone in particular, you can express your wishes in a will, which may well be worth doing.

A half-decent solicitor will also help you future proof your wills, so that if you buy a property you won't immediately have to re-write them.

And you should also consider drawing up a power of attorney, so that if either of you is incapacitated your affairs can be dealt with.

Mojisola

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

I think if you effectively go together then it's assumed that the eldest died first

If a married couple or civil partners die at the same time (so that the order can't be decided) and the elder of the two hasn't left a will, that estate skips the spouse and is distributed to the next in line.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/ihtmanual/ihtm12192.htm

bettyboo71

The short answer is definitely 'yes'.
Aside from what others have already said about your child, we had lots of problems when my dad died, because he didn't leave a will. I'm speaking about Scottish law, and it might be different in England (well, most of it is) but the main problem was that my parents had assumed that things automatically pass to the spouse when their partner dies, and that is not the case. My mum had problems accessing money, etc, which is not something you need to be worrying about at that time.
One of the charities are doing a will writing campaign at the moment, adverts all over the internet, but definitely do it properly through a solicitor.

TBagpuss

It would be sensible to make wills, mostly to ensure that you have made provision for your child, including setting out who you would like to appoint as guardian for your child if you were both to die, and to ensure that that person has the power to deal with your assets as you would wish.

PasturesNew

What's yours isn't his. What's his isn't yours.

If your partner dies, say, the day before payday and they get paid into their account .... when they die the account's frozen. How will the rent be paid? And the other bills? And, say, they've a savings account with £10k of "your" money in it - it's not yours any more; their account, in their name, tough t1tty.

Imagine a scenario where tomorrow they just disappear, along with all their accounts and all their money and all their belongings disappear from your house..... how hard will it be for you to get through the rest of the week, the month, next month, etc?

The car you both drive, is actually his. GONE.
Rent's always paid from his account. GONE.
Everything's in his name. LOCKED OUT.

Who is going to foot any burial bills? You might even have differing ideas about that. You pay? Or let his family pay - after all, they just drove off in "your" car as it's in his name.... leaving you without any way of getting to Tesco ... but then you've no money either until you get paid, in 2-3 weeks' time.

Avo

Some really helpful advice, much appreciated - we will get it sorted