Advice on husbands will

kangoora

My concern, monetarily, would be that if he dies first 'his' son gains the lions share of 'his' 50% of the house. If you survive him and then eventually need to go in a care home the 50% owned by all your children will be disregarded but the 50% you still own can still be assessed for care home needs if you aren't able to fund them from other means. This means 'your 50%' could reduce to around £16,000 (?) which will then be distributed according to your will.

Assuming a 200,000 house and no other assets

- on his death the son will 'own' £66.6k (2/3) and the other 2 children 16.6k each (1/3) which equals 50% of house) and you own £100k (£50%).

If your share of the house drops to £16k due to care home fees and you do an even split then each child gets £5.3k

Meaning the final split would be £71.9k to 'his' son and £21.9k to each other child.

This is patently unfair but I don't see how you can change things without agreement from your husband (be aware he can change his will at any time without informing you).

The only way I can see you making things 'fairer' for your other 2 children is to make your own will and leave everything to the 'other 2' children (maybe a small £100 token to acknowledge he's not been forgotten). This would give the other 2 children £50k each, coincidentally evening it up as 'his son' would still be on £66.6k (+£100) and 'your' 2 children on 16.6k + 50k = £66.6k - this doesn't sort out the unfairness if you need to pay care home fees from your 50% of the house however.

kangoora

Ooops, forgot to mention, writing this sort of will should be done by a competent professional, a solicitor, not a will writer and certainly not be a DIY job. DIY'ing this is a recipe for disaster and could cause all sorts of problems for not just you on his death but also your children on your death if not fully sorted by then.

Skimping on a few hundred quid to ensure your final wishes are correctly and LEGALLY documented seems ridiculous (but I guess the deceased doesn't have to worry about it because they'd be dead anyway).

gettingtheresometime

What's the relationship like between you and your step-son?
I'm just wondering if your husband feels that, if he was to die first, the step-son would be written out of your will, hence the contents of his?

AskAsk

did you have to agree to the change of tenancy?  i wouldn't have thought that the change could be made without your consent?

crowie53

AskAsk said:

did you have to agree to the change of tenancy?  i wouldn't have thought that the change could be made without your consent?

Yes if you both own the property either of you can severe the joint tenancy without consent, however the other person needs a notice of severance so that Land Registry can change the information. 

crowie53

Thanks Everybody for all your input. I obviously need to make my own will ASAP before I am served with severance. I was hoping someone would be able to tell me if the decision to force a sale would have to come from all of the beneficiaries, as I know my own children would not agree with their step brother if it ever came to that.

Mojisola

crowie53 said:

I obviously need to make my own will ASAP before I am served with severance. I was hoping someone would be able to tell me if the decision to force a sale would have to come from all of the beneficiaries, as I know my own children would not agree with their step brother if it ever came to that.

Make your will after you become tenants in common - at the moment, as joint tenants, you can't leave your share of the house to anyone because you and your husband both own it 100%.  When one of you dies, the other is the owner of the whole property.

The son could force a sale - it only takes one owner - but if you challenged the will and got a life tenancy, then he couldn't.

AskAsk

crowie53 said:

AskAsk said:

did you have to agree to the change of tenancy?  i wouldn't have thought that the change could be made without your consent?

Yes if you both own the property either of you can severe the joint tenancy without consent, however the other person needs a notice of severance so that Land Registry can change the information. 

i didn't know that.  i better not pass that information on to my husband, lol.
does it go to 50/50 tenants in common as default as i would assume this will be the split?

as others have said, a tenant in common can force the sale of the property.

Socajam

As this is your husband's second marriage, what did he bring to the marriage?
Did he have a house etc from the first marriage and sold it before marrying you?
My thought is that he obviously feels that his first child should benefit from the first marriage where probably most of his money was made.
I don't have a problem with him leaving his first son the bulk of his estate, the only stipulation should be that you get to live in the house until you died.  Then and only then would the son be able to claim his inheritance - that would be the decent thing to do.

MoneySeeker1

Mojisola said:

crowie53 said:

My husband was angry with me because I wouldn’t sign the documents jointly to severe the joint tenancy until I saw that a legal Will  had been drawn up to show I had Life Interest, and he had to apply himself to severe the tenancy through a solicitor for £199. Hence the snooping around.

We do own the property jointly so a 50/50 split.

The problem is, as you've found, that wills can be changed.

You will have the option of fighting his will but it's likely to be expensive and very stressful.

Very sad situation.

There's certainly an argument here for the way the law in some other countries lays down what Wills should say - at least to some extent. I think France is one of them for instance.

Swings and roundabouts on that one.