Wills and Stepchildren

kazwookie

I agree with O&U a 4 way split.

gettingtheresometime

Also something else to consider is the relationship that the children have with each other.


If it's a good one, then presumably you'd like that to continue both now and after your days. By cutting out the step children from your will threatens that (imo).

POPPYOSCAR

onwards&upwards wrote: »

The money is yours for now, don’t give anything away, you might need it.

I would definitely change your will to a 4 way split though.

I’d be very surprised if your husband had wanted his 2 older children to be cut out and receive nothing. Do you think there’s any possibility that’s what he would want you to do?

The OP has already covered that in her opening post."His view was that they have already been provided for under the terms of his ex-wife's will and that everything we have was built up subsequent to his divorce settlement and should thus go to our children."



Why should it be a 4 way split?

The step-children will receive an inheritance from their own mother so why should they get an equal share of their step-mother's as well?

nomdeplume59

Many thanks again for the varied responses.

I'll try and answer a few of your questions:

Firstly, I have no intention of giving anyone anything at present, apart from mementos to all his offspring, as I have no idea what my future care needs will be, plus much of the eventual estate (if I don't blow the lot on riotous living) is tied up in the house. My concern is about my will which currently leaves everything to our children and nothing to his - this was his wish for the reasons outlined above.

Our original mirror wills left everything to each other, nothing to any of the children until the second of us died - this was always very likely to be me as I was considerably younger so when we discussed it I was vaguely aware that I may subsequently alter mine.

We did discuss this before making our wills and he made his wishes very clear; he definitely wished me to leave everything to our two children. That may not make it right, though, and won't affect my decision.

unholyangel

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

Why should it be a 4 way split?

The step-children will receive an inheritance from their own mother so why should they get an equal share of their step-mother's as well?

Well i think they meant 4 way of the fathers rather than OP's but legally none of the children (step or natural) are entitled to anything (unless in scotland). And while the whole estate (including what was inherited from husband) is legally the OP's, the same can be said of the ex-wifes. It was legally all the ex-wifes.

Even if they built it up together, it stopped being his when they obtained a financial order. Whatever he received from the order would be his - which he then had the benefit of/continued to build upon with OP.

So the step children may have inherited from their mother, but they most certainly haven't had any share of their fathers estate.

Would he have felt the same about the children he had with OP if he had divorced OP and the estate had been legally split between them?

POPPYOSCAR

unholyangel wrote: »

Well legally none of the children (step or natural) are entitled to anything (unless in scotland). And while the whole estate (including what was inherited from husband) is legally the OP's, the same can be said of the ex-wifes. It was legally all the ex-wifes.

Even if they built it up together, it stopped being his when they obtained a financial order. Whatever he received from the order would be his - which he then had the benefit of/continued to build upon with OP.

So the step children may have inherited from their mother, but they most certainly haven't had any share of their fathers estate.

The point is it would be unfair to their own children to split her estate 4 ways as this would mean the step children getting a share of the OPs money as well as their father's.

DairyQueen

OP's late husband and his former wife would have split their assets on divorce. That must have been nigh on 50 years ago. So far, none of his children have received anything from their father's estate and the stepchildren will never receive anything unless OP's Will makes provision for them.

My view is that OP and her late spouse owned their assets 50/50. 100% of OP's share should be inheritable by her biological children alone, but her husband's share should be divided between all four of his biological children. Notwithstanding that OP has no idea how much of their joint estate she will need for the remainder of her life, in OP's position, I would bequeath 75% of the remainder of their estate to their biological children and the remaining 25% to her husband's children from his first marriage. That way his 50% of their estate is shared between all of his four children and the other 50% is inherited only by her biological children.

I would also make sure that children and stepchildren were advised of the contents of her Will and why it had been divided that way. Fairness is the best way for OP to avoid acrimony between the children on her death. Relationships between siblings are important throughout their lives and it would be so sad if inheritance created tension between them.

There are too many cases where people have failed to appreciate the emotional impact of their inheritance decisions on their nearest-and-dearest. The outcome is sometimes a lifelong estrangement between the parties.

To her credit, it seems that OP has more awareness of this than did her late husband.

unholyangel

POPPYOSCAR wrote: »

The point is it would be unfair to their own children to split her estate 4 ways as this would mean the step children getting a share of the OPs money as well as their father's.

Sorry, I edited my post to clarify but for some reason the forum reposted rather than editing. Never had that happen before in all the years I've used the forum. I definitely didn't type the thing twice!

I read both onwards&upwards comment as meaning 4 way split on the fathers "share", and that you were saying that wasn't fair due to you quoting about OP's husbands view, that the older 2 shouldn't inherit because they inherited from their mum, which apparently he still considered as "his". Maybe with good cause - if he gave in to unreasonable demands/expectations but any solicitor would have advised him against it. Still, even in that event it was still legally solely the ex-wifes.

lookstraightahead

My daughter would be in the same position as your stepchildren and I would expect her to be provided for by her father in his will, in the same way as his other children, irrespective of what I leave her. Purely my opinion though and we have never talked about it and she's an adult now, so it's up to him.

jackieblack

unholyangel wrote: »

I read both onwards&upwards comment as meaning 4 way split on the fathers "share"

I read it the same as POPPYOSCAR. To me, ‘4 way split’ implies ‘in equal shares’, unless stated otherwise. So I read it that onwards&upwards was saying that OP should leave her own estate in a 4 way split equally to her own and her step children, which would be unfair to her own children IMO.