Wills - Marriage & Family

dickibobboy

This is probably a really quick and simple question. 

If a married couple of many many years make their own separate wills (obviously after marriage) is it all true to the word? My head is telling me yes but.. 

What if the husband had the majority of the money and he dies but leaves all of his money to a charity, does that leave the wife fully without? I suspect yes?

What if they both jointly owned a mortgage free house, can the husband who dies leave their ‘half’ to someone else making the wife only half owner and the other half to the beneficiary? I suspect no in the case of joint ownership? 

This is all hypothetical when i start to think about family and friends but cannot seem to find much information about it.  

Thanks

p00hsticks

dickibobboy said:

What if the husband had the majority of the money and he dies but leaves all of his money to a charity, does that leave the wife fully without? I suspect yes?

It depends on the country - England and Wales have different rules to Scotland for example. The executor of a will has a duty to carry out whatever is in the will but if someone is financially dependent on the deceased then they can challenge the contents of the will and take it to court to determine if they are enttield to a share.

dickibobboy said:

What if they both jointly owned a mortgage free house, can the husband who dies leave their ‘half’ to someone else making the wife only half owner and the other half to the beneficiary? I suspect no in the case of joint ownership? 

It depends on exactly how the house is held - if they are joint tenants then they own the whole house jonitly and the deceased's share automatically passes to the survivor, regardless of any will. If they are tenants in common, then each owns one half (or any other propertion as specified) of the house and are entitled to leave their share to whoever they want in their will.

Monsternextdoor

I have separate wills, Mine and the OH. 

They pretty much mirror each other, If the husband left all theirs to a charity but it was a recent will the wife could call the will into question. I'd like to think a decision like that would have been spoken about at length tho. 

Even if my OH despised me id like to think that our children would not be left out.

Keep_pedalling

A spouse can challenge a will under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants Act) 1975), and in the circumstances you describe would probably win.