Making a will - blended family

[Countdown]

I really need to get round to making a will.

It's a little bit complicated but nothing that probably hasn't happened to many others. The situation is

- we have kids together plus I also have some from a previous marriage
- Our combined assets are probably 80% mine, 20% hers
- she is a fair bit younger than me so likely to outlive me

I think we both agree that our combined assets are to be divided up equally amongst all of our kids. However we want to ensure that if one of us shuffles off this mortal coil the other one doesn't mess up the inheritance plans as a result of shacking up with a 20 year old or by changing the will to give everything to their own kids.

Questions
We'd like to leave all property and assets to the surviving partner with the proviso that all property and assets get divided up between the kids on the 2nd partners death. We want to make sure that none of the income-generating assets can be sold or, if they are, then all sale proceeds go immediately to the kids.

is this feasible?
What are the potential pitfalls of blended family inheritances or the widow(er) marrying again?
How much is a cast-iron wil likely to cost? (One of my kids is a lawyer so i dont want to take any chances )

[grumbas]

Countdown said:

I really need to get round to making a will.

It's a little bit complicated but nothing that probably hasn't happened to many others. The situation is

- we have kids together plus I also have some from a previous marriage
- Our combined assets are probably 80% mine, 20% hers
- she is a fair bit younger than me so likely to outlive me

I think we both agree that our combined assets are to be divided up equally amongst all of our kids. However we want to ensure that if one of us shuffles off this mortal coil the other one doesn't mess up the inheritance plans as a result of shacking up with a 20 year old or by changing the will to give everything to their own kids.

Questions
We'd like to leave all property and assets to the surviving partner with the proviso that all property and assets get divided up between the kids on the 2nd partners death. We want to make sure that none of the income-generating assets can be sold or, if they are, then all sale proceeds go immediately to the kids.

is this feasible?
What are the potential pitfalls of blended family inheritances or the widow(er) marrying again?
How much is a cast-iron wil likely to cost? (One of my kids is a lawyer so i dont want to take any chances )

Sounds like bread and butter work for a good solicitor. I think the answer involves putting assets into trust though. Depending on where you are IHT could be a factor too so some good advice should be money well spent.

[Sheets Tabuer]

Countdown said:

Questions
We'd like to leave all property and assets to the surviving partner with the proviso that all property and assets get divided up between the kids on the 2nd partners death. We want to make sure that none of the income-generating assets can be sold or, if they are, then all sale proceeds go immediately to the kids.

is this feasible?
What are the potential pitfalls of blended family inheritances or the widow(er) marrying again?
How much is a cast-iron wil likely to cost? (One of my kids is a lawyer so i dont want to take any chances )

You want a life interest trust or limited interest will, it would mean she doesn't inherit it but she could live there forever and the kids get it after she has gone.

Have the same, Mrs is 13 years younger and has two kids, but they will inherit their dads house as well as hers so wanted to protect my child by making sure she inherited mine.

Not a lawyer and you will need proper legal advice as it can be a complex area.

[OutInTheShed]

It's quite hard when you work through what you want to happen across all the possibilities.

You can leave stuff in trust for the kids, but that restricts what your widow can do, and how she can spend assets other than the house.

You could have some convoluted will which might be contested.

Your widow might need all the assets for medical bills and care fees.

Your widow might enter a new relationship, where they need the assets to live on.

Between your death and your widow's death a lot could change, there could be a lot of grandchildren for one child or something. One child might end up doing a lot of caring for you or your wife/widow while another falls out with his family.

I've really struggled with writing a will, it is not easy, looking at what's happened with other families and how well-intentioned wills haven't helped.

Personally my partner gets everything. They can do what they like. Blow it all on parties and travel, do what they want to build a new life.
No strings attached.

It's only if we both die 'together' or within a short period that I care about passing it on to younger generations.
Or maybe if one of us dies and the other already has dementia or something?

[dalenorth]

We can offer you a free will with a company we partner with. Drop me a pm if you want a visit from them?

[Jester86]

If it helps,

Currently I am the beneficiary of such a trust with regards to a house. Unfortunately my mum passed away last year, left her half of the house in trust for myself and my 2 sisters. So that my stepdad could still live in the property, if he decides to move he can only use the assets to purchase another home so it is already protected. I was mistakenly under the impression if he sold the marital home it was then distributed amongst us. Only upon death does the estate then get finally sorted.

This was to lean on the spousal tax relief on IHT. As any tax free allowance left from one spouse passes to the other and is added to their estate upon their death or some such.

[Countdown]

Thanks all

It looks like I need to go down the "Trust" route.

Anybody have a ballpark idea of how much these cost?

[Countdown]

dalenorth said:

We can offer you a free will with a company we partner with. Drop me a pm if you want a visit from them?

Thanks Dale - much appreciated. Whereabouts is this company located? I'd prefer to do it F2F rather than remote

[Sheets Tabuer]

Countdown said:

Thanks all

It looks like I need to go down the "Trust" route.

Anybody have a ballpark idea of how much these cost?

Mine was just under a grand a few years ago.

[davek_964]

Sheets Tabuer said:

You want a life interest trust or limited interest will, it would mean she doesn't inherit it but she could live there forever and the kids get it after she has gone.

Have the same, Mrs is 13 years younger and has two kids, but they will inherit their dads house as well as hers so wanted to protect my child by making sure she inherited mine.

Not a lawyer and you will need proper legal advice as it can be a complex area.

We're literally doing this now - if she dies, my wife doesn't want me running off with a 20 year old and depriving her kids of their inheritance.

My will is very simple - leave everything to her / her kids. Hers is longer with a property trust saying that I can continue to live in the house, can even sell it and move elsewhere - but that the capital in it ultimately belongs to her kids.

Regarding costs - we got wildly varying quotes, but ours are costing about £850 total inc vat.

[Sheets Tabuer]

davek_964 said:

We're literally doing this now - if she dies, my wife doesn't want me running off with a 20 year old and depriving her kids of their inheritance.

My will is very simple - leave everything to her / her kids. Hers is longer with a property trust saying that I can continue to live in the house, can even sell it and move elsewhere - but that the capital in it ultimately belongs to her kids.

Regarding costs - we got wildly varying quotes, but ours are costing about £850 total inc vat.

It can be a difficult conversation with blended families but as I saw it the Mrs kids will inherit two houses, so for ease of maths say 400k each house, if they were to inherit a 3rd of mine that would means they have 500k and my child got 130k. As it stands each gets 400k

Luckily my mrs thought it a brilliant idea

Feel for the guy on the other thread where his dad has married his ex.

[dalenorth]

Countdown said:

dalenorth said:

We can offer you a free will with a company we partner with. Drop me a pm if you want a visit from them?

Thanks Dale - much appreciated. Whereabouts is this company located? I'd prefer to do it F2F rather than remote

They’re national so will come to you no problem.

[Ducati996R]

dalenorth said:

Countdown said:

dalenorth said:

We can offer you a free will with a company we partner with. Drop me a pm if you want a visit from them?

Thanks Dale - much appreciated. Whereabouts is this company located? I'd prefer to do it F2F rather than remote

They’re national so will come to you no problem.

Hi Dale
We have a will but I was looking at getting them checked / updated etc if that’s req
Is that something your partner company can do
Cheers
Clive

[dalenorth]

Yes Clive, that’ll be fine. They are called Thomas Bradley and Co and look after lots of our life insurance clients. Just drop me a pm if you want a chat with them.