Wills and children/stepchildren

Civvy21

Hi,

I need to sort out my will and would be be grateful for some guidance before i take it any further.

My situation is i am married with one daughter (from a previous relationship) and one stepson. My daughter does not live with us but my stepson does. The house is all paid for but is in my name only. Dont know if it is relevant but i already owned the house before i met my wife.

If i understand it correctly, as the moment when i die the house would pass directly to my wife and then to her son on her death. So my daughter would lose out. So i need to have a will which ensures my dughter gets an equal share to my stepson (assuming i die before my wife). Would this be a "life interest will"?

If so, are they straightforward and easy to set up? Any pitfalls or downsides?

Grateful for any advice.

Yorkshireman99

Civvy21 wrote: »

Hi,

I need to sort out my will and would be be grateful for some guidance before i take it any further.

My situation is i am married with one daughter (from a previous relationship) and one stepson. My daughter does not live with us but my stepson does. The house is all paid for but is in my name only. Dont know if it is relevant but i already owned the house before i met my wife.

If i understand it correctly, as the moment when i die the house would pass directly to my wife and then to her son on her death. So my daughter would lose out. So i need to have a will which ensures my dughter gets an equal share to my stepson (assuming i die before my wife). Would this be a "life interest will"?

If so, are they straightforward and easy to set up? Any pitfalls or downsides?

Grateful for any advice.

The house might pas to your wife if you died Intestate i.e. without making a will. You need to see a solicitor, not a will maker, and discuss it with them. Your wife should do the same. You might want to consider formally adopting your stepson.. As minors are involved you might want to find a STEP solicitor to advise of the possibility of a trust.

TonyMMM

Agree with the above - complex families need proper wills drawing up looking at all the possible scanrios.

Crucial issues at the moment are that your stepson (unless adopted) would get nothing without a will, and that whatever your wife inherits would be hers to do with as she wished.

antrobus

Civvy21 wrote: »

...If i understand it correctly, as the moment when i die the house would pass directly to my wife and then to her son on her death. ....

Depends on how much the house is worth, the wife only automatically gets the first £250k and laf the excess under intestacy rules.

Civvy21 wrote: »

...So my daughter would lose out. So i need to have a will which ensures my dughter gets an equal share to my stepson (assuming i die before my wife). Would this be a "life interest will"?....

Presumably what you mean is that you intend leaving the house to your stepson and daughter, with the stipulation that your wife gets to live in it for as long as she lives. Yes, that can be done.

Civvy21 wrote: »

....If so, are they straightforward and easy to set up? .

Fairly standard legal boilerplate If you looked hard enough on the interweb there's probably a template somewhere.

Civvy21 wrote: »

....Any pitfalls or downsides?...

Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975?

How old are the children?

Yorkshireman99

antrobus wrote: »

Depends on how much the house is worth, the wife only automatically gets the first £250k and laf the excess under intestacy rules.



Presumably what you mean is that you intend leaving the house to your stepson and daughter, with the stipulation that your wife gets to live in it for as long as she lives. Yes, that can be done.



Fairly standard legal boilerplate If you looked hard enough on the interweb there's probably a template somewhere.



Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975?

How old are the children?

Trying to DIY something like this really is a complete no no. The OP would do well to ignore your flawed advice and get it done professionally.

Civvy21

Thanks for your replies.

Sorry, i did omit a bit of key information. Both "children" are in their early twenties. The house is the only major asset. There will not be vast sums of personal savings or other stuff like that.

I must admit i was hoping to draw up the will myself using some sort of template. Or if not just use a basic will writing service. My thinking was that this must be a very common scenario in todays world, so would be relatively straightforward. However, I appreciate that may br niave thinking on my part.

Civvy21

Also, house is standard 3 bed in the south east. Guess between £300-400k.

Yorkshireman99

Civvy21 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies.

Sorry, i did omit a bit of key information. Both "children" are in their early twenties. The house is the only major asset. There will not be vast sums of personal savings or other stuff like that.

I must admit i was hoping to draw up the will myself using some sort of template. Or if not just use a basic will writing service. My thinking was that this must be a very common scenario in todays world, so would be relatively straightforward. However, I appreciate that may br niave thinking on my part.

Lots of people fall into the trap of doing it on the cheap. Remember the amount of money involved and how much grief your family could suffer if you did it wrong. Good luck.

74jax

My house is left to my DD with a section saying hubby can continue to live there for 10 years or until he wants to move in with someone else.


I update my will every 5 years or so though (I get a little paranoid....) so I know it's as up to date as it can be I guess.

Civvy21

Yorkshireman99 - thank you for your good wishes.

If i have to go down the solicitors route then thats what i will do. Just out of interest, in a relatively simple case like (ie the house being the only major asset) would a will writing service not suffice.

Also, anybody know a ballpark figure of how much a solicitor would charge for a relatively simple life interest will.

Incidentally, i do already have a will. The house is left to my wife, and i have a life insurance policy which very broadly matched the value of the house to compensate my daughter. Unfortunately the insurance finishes soon so i need to put something else in place.

Thanks

Civvy21

Thanks 74jax.

May i ask who wrote your will. Was it a solicitor, a will writing service or a diy jobby.