Unmarried with children - no will

Keep_pedalling

jenijen27 wrote: »

Thanks - it gets paid to me

So you could use it to pay off the mortgage, which would leave you owning part of the house, and the rest being held in trust for your children.

Still think insurance is important as you will need cover for lost earnings. You also should get cover.

elsien

If he was in an accident tomorrow and incapacitated you'd also be in a difficult position - what if he needed care? It happens. Any power of attorney would have to act in his best interests, not yours. Where would that leave you all? If you've been together 9 years these are things you really need to think about.

Yorkshireman99

zagfles wrote: »

Yes getting married would simplify things immensely - even with a will, probate is much harder with unmarried couples.

Sorry to say that is complete nonsense.

jenijen27

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

So you could use it to pay off the mortgage, which would leave you owning part of the house, and the rest being held in trust for your children.

Still think insurance is important as you will need cover for lost earnings. You also should get cover.

Could I pay it off though if the house doesn't belong to me?

securityguy

jenijen27 wrote: »

Could I pay it off though if the house doesn't belong to me?

No. Or at least, you could, but it wouldn't change the ownership of the house.

Mojisola

If you were married and one of you died young, the other could claim Bereavement Payment and Widowed Parent's Allowance - unmarried survivors can't get help.

If you were married, you would benefit from the doubling of inheritance tax allowance - this may not be relevant at the moment but with the increase in house prices or getting inheritances in the future, it may do.

Keep_pedalling

securityguy wrote: »

No. Or at least, you could, but it wouldn't change the ownership of the house.

Surely the children would only inherit the equity. If the OP then paid off the mortgage with her own money she would then own the remaining portion of the house.

zagfles

Mojisola wrote: »

In what way?

Because the IHT forms you need to fill in for probate (even if under the IHT threshold), ask about stuff like gifts, so any transfers between the couple in the last 7 years would need to be recorded. Doesn't apply to married couples. Did he pay for a joint holiday? Would that count as a "gift"? Did he buy an expensive present, did he buy her car etc?

Also for any jointly owned assets, unmarried couples need to declare the contribution each person made to that asset and when joint ownership started. Say they have a joint savings account. You'd need to plough through statements seeing who contributed what, to work out the deceased's share. Married couples don't have to.

zagfles

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

Sorry to say that is complete nonsense.

Oh really? So you don't think having to examine/declare all significant transfers/gifts between the couple in the last 7 years, or having to declare how much each contributed to any jointly owned asset makes things harder?

Yorkshireman99

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