If i'm paying for mortgage protection would i get the house?

Going through a load of old paperwork i came across a few letters saying that our mortgage protection insurance wasn't renewed and neither was our home insurance.

Needless to say i'm not a happy bunny...spoke/ had argument to the "sometimes bf, sometimes not bf" about this and he said he just cant afford to pay for them anymore.

So it looks like i'm going to have to set up new policies for the 2 of us.

Not sure how we got onto the subject but it came up if something was to happen to me then the insurance would pay off the remainder of the mortgage and the house would fully belong to him. The normal i thought.... but oh no if something was to happen to him then the mortgage would be paid off but he wants his share of the house to go to his parents!!! I would of killed him apart from we have no insurance at the moment....was the only thing stopping me.

Now am i just being totally unreasonable here???

I just cant believe that he has come out with this,,,, we have 2 children surely the house would be for me and the children to live in.

Well according to him if anything were to happen i either have the choice of "buying" his now parents share of the house or if i cant afford to do this then the house would have to be sold and the money split.

Can he legally do this? We're not married so in his opinion he can say who gets his share of the house.

Either way i have to get a policy sorted out for the 2 of us, and i'm a little p****d that i'm going to be the one that pays for a policy that his parents get half of. I wouldn't even mind if he wanted the house to go to the kids for when they were older but thats not an option either.

If he is doing this can i now legally state that if anything was to happen to me that my share in the house goes directly to the children? At least that way they would have at least half, and it would stop him getting the full ownership of the house.

Not that i believe in an eye for an eye or anything like that but if he has no intention of making sure the kids are going to be looked after then i have to.

Because of this i'm also thinking of getting an extra life insurance policy for myself that would go to the children if anything were to happen to me that way money would be there for their future. Is there anyway that he could get his hands on this money even if i request the money goes into trust funds for the kids. ( not that i'm planning on kicking the bucket just yet, but i want to have something in place if the worst should happen )

I just dont know whats come over him, we've never really discussed anything like this before. Not to mention that if anything was to happen to him the kids and me would be left in a right mess having no insurance in the first place.

I understand his parents are important to him but in my opinion he's really gone to far on this one.

I think it might stem from him finding out i had opened a savings account. Now it's not like i had 1000's in this account in 6 months i've saved €750, and i didn't keep it from him as such, i was in the bank a while ago and i was offered this account and just signed up to it. I've never hidden the account, he only found out cause he wanted to use my credit card and i told him to go on line and see what available funds i have and all my accounts that i have came up and he asked what the €750 was in this 1 account. If i was hiding it i never would of let him log onto my online banking, i just never mentioned it. I didn't think it would be such a big deal, i was planning on using the money for xmas.

samanthajane.. can you confirm the following? it would make it easier for people to respond
- you & your partner bought a house together (or did he buy a house & you now live there)?
- you have two children & he is the biological father?
- neither you nor your partner are married, nor have any other children?
- you have neither mortgage protection nor life assurance?
- neither you nor your partner have made a will?
- you want to know how would your children be provided for in the event you and/or your partner died? and what steps you should take to provide for them?

stephnyc said:

samanthajane.. can you confirm the following? it would make it easier for people to respond
- you & your partner bought a house together (or did he buy a house & you now live there)?

we bought the house together, although i dont fully live there anymore, i have a house in newry a well which is rented.

- you have two children & he is the biological father?

He is the biologicl father of 1 of the children, although we have legal papers drawn up stating what access he has to both children. Because neither of us wantd to go down the court route.


- neither you nor your partner are married, nor have any other children?

No were no married or have any other children

- you have neither mortgage protection nor life assurance?

Not at the moment no. But we did when the payments were coming out of my account. It's only since he took over the payments that he stopped paying.

- neither you nor your partner have made a will?

I have a will but he doesn't. My will is very simple everything i own goes to him, on the condition that the children are kept together. Not that i ever thought he would but i wouldn't want him to not want to keep my son from a previous relationship. Failing those conditions everything i own and the children go to my mother.

- you want to know how would your children be provided for in the event you and/or your partner died? and what steps you should take to provide for them?

Click to expand...

Not really....sorry probably didn't explain it properly. He is saying if anything should happen to him then his share of the house goes to his parents ( since he has no insurance i wonder if they would be happy to pay his half of the mortgage...i dont think so, i love it that he came out with this when he's not paid the insurance in months )

For example...say he dies with insurance the mortgage would be paid off. Say the house was worth 300k. I would either have to pay his parents 150k to own the house outright of if i am unable to do that then the house will be sold and half given to his parents and half to me.

What i'm wondering is can he do this? Wouldn't the house automatically be mine, can he give it to his parents. If he were to die this week i wouldn't be able to come up with 150k so i would have to sell the house. I only rent another house this house is the only thing of any value that i have.

Since he cant afford to pay the insurance i have no choice but to pay it myself...if the worst was to happen at least i would have half of a house.

Hi SamanthaJane,

I am not a lawyer, but here is my understanding of the situation.

There are one other question to answer - how did you buy the house

Did you buy the house as tenants in common, or joint tenants ? If you dont have access to the documentation on buying the house, then you could ask your solicitor.

If you are joint tenants, where you jointly own the house, then ownership of the house automatically goes to the other person if one dies. It is normal for a couple to buy as joint tenants.

If tenants in common, where you both own half the house each, which is more normal for friends or siblings buying together, then his half of the house would go to his next of kin, which are his children (if he has no will).

I hope this is clear, but I think you need to make an appointment with your solicitor and clarify the issue of the house ownership to give yourself some peace of mind.

Samantha even if he states in a will his parents get the house, it will always go to any biological children.... recently done our will due to buyin a new house and this was all explanined by the solicitor because i said i want my half to go to my parents but if theres any children in the future i want it to go to them, he said i dont even have to but the bit in about any future childred because the law always favours them. parents might protest it if there blinded by money but if it goes to court it always is left to the children or in your case child

huskerdu,we bought the house joint tenants.

NewUser1, are you sure about the will bit..i thought who ever you left anything to in a will got it regardless.

Would the law be differentin the UK to Ireland?

As an only child that would mean i would automatically be intitled of everything from my mother. But she has made her will out that everything she has is split 50/50 between my 2 children. And from what she was saying nothing in the world can change this.

Now i would never dream of challenging this in court i'm very happy for everything to go to my children, but this was done to make sure 100% that only her grandchildren got everything.

I'll have to ask her exacetly what is was she actually put in her will. If it wasn't for another family member she wouldn't of even got a will drawn up, i knew what her wishes were and wouldn't of gone against them, but another family member started a conversation a few years back about who would get what if someone died ( lovely i know ) and for some reason only known to her thought she should be entitled to some of my mum's estate, and was very put out when she was told she wouldn't be getting a thing, it was all going to my kids. So thats the only reason she did the will to make sure her sister didn't see a penny of it.

Hi Samantha,
You are right, you can disinherit your children by leaving everything
to someone else in your will.

However, if the children are under 18, or have special needs, this
can be challenged in court.

So your mother can leave everything to her grandchildren and
leave you nothing, but if you leave nothing to your children and
die before they are 18, a court will likely force the estate to give
them something. If course, this would be dependent on the
personal circumstances of all concerned in any particular case.

As you are joint tenants, you would get the house if he dies,
regardless of your marital status or his will.

Hopefully, this is a situation that you will never have to deal with.

Thats good to here then huskerdu, i dont care about anything just the house. I wouldn't of even been bother if he has left the house to the kids, but weather he meant it or not it came across that he couldn't care less about them and just wanted his parent to have it.

I even tried ringing an insurance broker to get a life insurance policy on him to cover the cost of the house if he could give it to his parents and i needed to buy them out, but i didn't realise i needed him to sign and make the payment payable to me. ( not much chance of him doing that )

Anyway i feel better now knowing that if the worst should happen i wont be left having to fight for the house. And like you said hopefully i'll never have to deal with this.