will complex ?

kings0527

Wish do own and wife's will's.
Situation - My self , age 83, Cancer Survivor, acute kidney injury. osteoarthritis both knees.
                 Wife, age 70, Vascular dementia.
Assetts - House value  abt £170,000.

Need to male a will which in the event of my death before my wife's will pass my proportion of assets to my son and daughter.
It is likely that in this even Social Services will push for house o be sold to pay for her care , need to protect some share for the family.

Mojisola

Before making the wills, you need to make sure you own your home as 'tenants in common' and not 'joint tenants'. 

If you own the property as TIC with a 50/50 split, you can each leave your share of the house to your children.

It's more usual for a couple to own their home as JTs so you may have to sever the joint tenancy.

www.gov.uk/joint-property-ownership/change-from-joint-tenants-to-tenants-in-common

pinkshoes

Do either of your son or daughter already own a home? (second home tax, or if they don't it would then mean no entitlement to first time buyer benefits).

Also, you would need to put something in place giving your wife the right to reside in the property until either her death, or perhaps a clause agreeing to sell the property to pay for any care should she require it.

tooldle

As your wife is much younger and will potentially outlive you, what does she think of this plan? If half of your joint wealth is passed to your children, it is your wife who suffers the knock on consequence of available funds. 

Mojisola

pinkshoes said:

Do either of your son or daughter already own a home? (second home tax, or if they don't it would then mean no entitlement to first time buyer benefits).

Also, you would need to put something in place giving your wife the right to reside in the property until either her death, or perhaps a clause agreeing to sell the property to pay for any care should she require it.

A properly written will won't affect the offspring in that way - the 50% inherited by them will be kept in trust while the spouse needs the house; it can then be further preserved as capital with the spouse benefiting from the income if wanted.

lincroft1710

Would suggest you get a solicitor to draw up the will. They will know exactly how to word the will so that it does exactly what you want it to.

Choirgrl

You need to talk to a solicitor about what you want to achieve with your Will and they will be able to advise on the best way to achieve it. As others have said, this is likely to include making sure that you own the property as ‘tenants in common’ so that, if you pre-decease your wife, you can leave your half to your children and so can’t be eaten up by care home fees for your wife.. The solicitor will be able to structure things so that your wife can continue to live in the house during her lifetime or until she goes into care. 

You say that you want to do Wills for you and your wife, and that your wife has vascular dementia. That may mean that your wife no longer has the legal capacity to make a Will. A solicitor will be able to advise you about this.

74jax

This very similar to what my situation was. Mam had vascular dementia after a double stroke, dad had cancer and was her main carer. My parents changed their ownership to be tenants in common and each left their 50% to their children (myself and brother) with dad gifting is both money in his last days. 

Dad was too focused on passing on an 'inheritance' to really see clearly, he had terminal cancer and didn't want 'the government getting their hands on his hard earned cash'. He didn't have long to live, wouldn't listen to reason and was really agitated with it. 

To ease his passing, my brother and I sorted the solicitor to go to the house and sort wills. Once this was done dad was calmer, more accepting of his fate and died at peace. 

What was left however was a pain.... Mam needed care, with no funds. The government option of care was nowhere near what we knew dad would have wanted for her. Mam and I didn't have a good relationship, but dad and I did. I knew he wouldn't want mam to live out her days in a home that could have been much more suited if she could pay for the extras.

My brother and I used money dad had left us to fund mams care, believing it was really hers anyway. We had to do this via a solicitor and with social services fully involved every 6 months. 

Before you do your wills, have a look at care options, what your assets may allow vs what your wife will get if government funded. I know dad, if not in a panic, would have wanted what was best for his wife of nearly 60 years, he just didn't have time to research the care system.  Although I never got on with mam, there's no way I could have left her to the care system just because I could - dad would come back and haunt me 😂.

Could you give cash gifts now and continue for each year (if you have cash available), or use some for family holidays / family meals to leave memories maybe? 

A solicitor will talk through your will options, but please talk through various possibilities with your children too. We had to be so careful doing this with mam due to possible DoA, which was why solicitors / social service were involved. Its best to look at it now, as a family, whilst you can. 

TBagpuss

I agree, you need to talk to your wife (assuming her illness is not so severe that she has already lost capacity) and then to a solicitor. It may be in your insterests to sever the joint tenancy on your home so you can each leave your interest to others in your wills, but you need to do it properly.

IS this a second marraige? I notice that you referred to 'my' rather than ' our' children' While either way it would be reasonable for you to think about your wife's needs as well as any inheritance for your children .

I'd also suggest discussiing things with your children.

As your vwife has dementia, if she still has mental capacity she needs to think about setting up powers of attonrney and it would be sensible for her to appoint someone otherthan or as well as you, to sensure that she has someone who is ableto manage her affias in the event of your dying before her r losing capacity yourself. Ideally you shoukd alos get POAs in place for yourself, in case your health deteriorates 

Brie

POAs could be set up to say the attorney is one of you, child A, or child B for your wife and child A or child B for you.  

Assuming your children get along ok this would be easiest although they may find that they differ on opinions of how to handle certain situations.  In our family I'm the logical practical one and my brothers are more emotional about things.  With our dad there was a difference of opinion on how to handle end of life issues and we're currently trying to make similar calls regarding our mom.  We are helped greatly by having had good conversions with mom about what she wants and there are things like DNRs in place.  Unfortunately we (OH & I) weren't so organised with MiL which means likely going to court to get things sorted.