Before we take out a MIRRORED WILL are there any drawbacks we should consider?

Gobsh

Before we take out a MIRRORED WILL are there any drawbacks we should consider?

Our case is pretty simple, me and the wife want to leave everything to each other on either of us dying, my wife has a rental property, we own our own home free and clear, we have an adults son 36 year old, also owns his own home free and clear, and we both want him to inherit should both of us die. 

Stubod

Both myself and spouse did mirror wills a few years ago. Seems to make sense if everything is fairly simple. I suppose something to consider, (rather unpleasant and hopefully not!), is what happens if your son passes before you do?

Keep_pedalling

Your solicitor should cover all the what if situations to cover including the major one that Stubod has pointed out.

You might also consider a life time interest trust to protect your son’s inheritance in the event of the survivor remarrying.

doodling

Hi,

Given your unequal asset holdings then are you sure that mirror wills are appropriate?

If you're worried about care costs or the remaining partner leaving everything to someone other than your son after you have gone then the other option is to pass on your share in the major assets (usually the house) to whoever you want (e.g. your son) whilst giving your partner a life interest in it.  You'll need to split ownership of the property to do this (i.e. hold as Tenants in Common).

Note that doing this doesn't provide full protection against care costs or the surviving partner doing something unexpected but will generally reduce the impact to less than half the total assets.

I'm assuming that you are getting your wills done by a solicitor (as it is generally unwise not to) so they will be able to advise of the pros and cons of all the options and make sure that all foreseeable eventualities are covered.

Manxman_in_exile

Keep_pedalling said:

Your solicitor should cover all the what if situations to cover including the major one that Stubod has pointed out.

You might also consider a life time interest trust to protect your son’s inheritance in the event of the survivor remarrying.

Having seen two adult children disinherited in my own family after my brother remarried following his first wife's death, I'd suggest the above is very important.  Remember that - without some sort of protection - after the death of the first spouse there is nothing to prevent the surviving spouse subsequently changing their will.  (It may be something that neither of you really want to contemplate, but believe me, it does happen... )

[Edit:  Unlike mirror wills, mutual wills basically can't be changed after the death of the first spouse, but mutual wills involve a whole load of tricky drawbacks of their own, and they are very unusual these days.  Also courts don't seem to like the idea of testators binding their future freedom to do what they like with their property.]