Inheritance rights - spousal

fritzie-65

Just want to get an idea of spousal rights under English law.

My husband is named in a will to inherit a half share of everything held by his widowed parent ( all held in a trust arrangement )

If my husband should die before his parent, upon the subsequent death of the parent does his half share pass to me in full or part or all go to his sibling ?.

My husband does not have an English will currently.

I myself am currently drafting my English will , hence the question.

Thanks in advance

otb666

I am no expert at all but remember in my parents in laws Will there was a bit about blood line so wife (who is not blood line) gets bypassed and goes to his children.

Woodstok2000

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6684010/inheritance-rights-spousal

The will usually states what happens if benefactors die before it is enacted.

poseidon1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6684010/inheritance-rights-spousal

The trust document may have all kind of potential riders as to what will occur if your husband should predecease the trust beneficiary.

It could provide that his share passes direct to his own children ( if any), or his share accrues to the other beneficiary who survives him, or his spouse, or it could ( unfortunately) be entirely silent on the question if badly drafted.

Its pointless speculating on possible outcomes, where the simplest solution is to get a copy of the original trust document.

If the trust was established under the Will of the first parent to die, surely your husband has a copy and can therefore ascertain all this for himself?

Any reason why obtaining a copy of the trust document maybe problematic? This sounds like an odd question on something that should be transparently understood by all those directly affected.

fritzie-65

Thankyou all your responses.

It is a living trust and as far as I am aware my husband has no copy.He and his sibling have POA.

The first parent is deceased and 100% went to their widow ,in turn on their demise everything will be split 50/50 to my husband and his sibling.

Nothing else is stated in the original will.

Hence my original question

fritzie-65

Plus if I were to be entitled to my husbands share I will do everything in my legal power to prevent/block the sibling inheriting anything from our /my estate by having my will firmly in place.

fritzie-65

Plus I suggest others read this article…

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/pensions/article-16139575/My-husband-suddenly-died-59-state-pension-future-STEVE-WEBB-replies.html?ico=mol_mobile_home-newtab&molReferrerUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.com%2Fhome%2Findex.html&_gl=1g8ch9j_gcl_auMTE2NDg5NTY1Ny4xNzg0NTIyMzk4_gaNDI3ODAyMTQ0LjE3NzY3NDUxOTM._ga_C9F47K6NW6*czE3ODk5OTg5MTckbzM4JGcxJHQxNzg5OTk4OTIwJGo1OCRsMCRoMTA2Njk4MDIwMA..

poseidon1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82143862#Comment_82143862

So who are the trustees of the living trust? I would ordinarily expect that to be the mother's children since ordinarily the interests of mother and children would be aligned.

I hope you not are going say this trust set up during the lifetime of the now deceased husband has a will writing firm ensconced as professional trustees and therefore the trust is controlled by strangers rather than immediate family.

Also if mother is a continuing/ surviving trustee why has she not provided her children/attorneys with a copy of the trust document where they may end up as de facto trustees if she loses capacity?

Finally, depending on the value of the property subject to the trust, there are quite complex IHT and trust registration compliance requirements, breachs of which can attract penalties.

Frankly I would have thought your husband's highest priority would be to ensure the trust is HMRC compliant and being administered properly. The fact he himself apparently has no English Will, should be your immediate concern, not the trust.

I sense neither you or he are based in the UK ( awkward where he has POA), so are unhelpfully geographically removed from these UK situs matters.

RAS

Do your husband and PIL understand that trusts have to be registered with HMRC with two years of the death? With penalties for noncompliance? Has that been done by the trustees?

There are a number of types of trust with varying responsibilities and tax requirements. Some are tax efficient, other were once and now create liabilities. I'd suggest your parent in law needs to know which.

As for future inheritance, there is little you can do about the ultimate destination of money that might be inherited from the deceased parent in law. A decent lawyer will have covered the options when the will was written. These are already part of the will and it was the donor who decided whether money meant for predeceased beneficiaries went to other relatives, or the cat's home, for example.

otb666

The link you posted is about State pension I think we are all aware we dont get spouse state pension when they pass away since 2016 rules changed. This means you have to check your own state pension forecast. In relation to spouse inheritance it depends what parents in law put in will and cannot be relied upon either.

If your parents in law lost their son they might write a new will leaving 100% to their other child.

You have to think do I have enough income on my own if not and your spouse dies you will either have to increase income (benefits/job/savings) or reduce spending (downsize/debt free wannabee board). Obviously work pensions work differently.

Its an important thing to think about and I have made sure my husbands pension provider has my details as do my pension provider have his details. But it would certainly effect living standards with only one state pension instead of 2 although you got to hope bills would reduce a bit but not as much as one state pension.

Caz3121

my husband died before his remaining parent. Originally the will was 50:50 him and his sister. After he died it was changed to 50% to sister and 50% split between his two children. I did not inherit his share and did not expect to. I suspect has he not had children then it would have been 100% to his sister.