Lifetime interest v right of residence

Hi All,

A friends family had a terrible situation where one parent died and the other remarried a few years later. Their remaining parent then passed away and the new spouse (who did not want anything to do with the original family) inherited their family home.

My spouse and I are drafting our own will and with the above in mind, want to protect our kids from anything similar happening. We're aware that it's unlikely but still, who knows what the future holds!

We're thinking of leaving our house to our children and putting in a lifetime interest for the other spouse to ensure if one of us ever remarried, the new spouse would have no claim on family home.

Are there pitfalls to this that we mightn't have thought about? I've heard of right of residence but am unsure about which one would be a good option (if any).

We will be running this past a solicitor but just wondering in the meantime.

Thanks!

To be honest I think it's a bit controlling. Your friend's "remaining" parent had time presumably to change their will to benefit their new spouse and could have ensured the house remains for the new spouse or the children, they chose the spouse, their house, their choice.
Unless the children are under 18 there's no obligation for them to receive the house or a share in it.

I think your idea is daft.

When you are dead you are dead, and if you love someone you should trust them to do the right thing for themselves and everyone else.

In the case of friend, parent had early onset dementia. Legal advice was that they would prob win but it would be complicated and drag on for years and they just wanted to move on. Neither of us are trying to control the other, we just saw the friends family go through emotional time and were exploring options. We will discuss with solicitor. Thanks for replies.

I personally think it is a great idea. Not controlling in my opinion but sensible forward planning. If I were to pop my clogs first, I would want my half of everything as at the date of my death to go to my children. Yer man can do whatever he wants with his half.... I'll be back to haunt him if my childer aren't looked after.

rolypoly1 said:

Hi All,

A friends family had a terrible situation where one parent died and the other remarried a few years later. Their remaining parent then passed away and the new spouse (who did not want anything to do with the original family) inherited their family home.

My spouse and I are drafting our own will and with the above in mind, want to protect our kids from anything similar happening. We're aware that it's unlikely but still, who knows what the future holds!

We're thinking of leaving our house to our children and putting in a lifetime interest for the other spouse to ensure if one of us ever remarried, the new spouse would have no claim on family home.

Are there pitfalls to this that we mightn't have thought about? I've heard of right of residence but am unsure about which one would be a good option (if any).

We will be running this past a solicitor but just wondering in the meantime.

Thanks!

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Give the house to your kids now. You and your wife will be legally entitled to live in the house till the day you die. Legally your kids own the house and legally you both have a roof over your head till the day you die. If either survivor remarried they don't own the house so cant will it to anyone.

NoRegretsCoyote said:

I think your idea is daft.

When you are dead you are dead, and if you love someone you should trust them to do the right thing for themselves and everyone else.

Click to expand...

I think that sounds nice, but is very fairy tale, life doesn't always work out like that. I would not call it controlling to want to pass on your wealth to you kids. Been there, seen it first hand, its not nice.

I know you are considering this because you are worried about your kids inheritance, but there are many pitfalls and you should be thinking about your own needs.

If the house is owned as joint tenants , if one of you dies, the other one then owns the house . I don't see how a will can oblige the surviving spouse to give the house away. A will can only deal with the assets of the person who has died.

If the surviving spouse did give the house to the children, they don't own their own house. Think about this for a minute. Why would you choose not to own your own house ? What if the house no longer meets your needs or you need the money and you want to sell and move?

I know you think your family will never row about money, but sadly, lots of families do.

If the house is owned by your children and one of them dies, and their spouse remarries, then your house is partly owned by a stranger. What then?

You should talk to a solicitor about this, but I dont see why or how anyone would do this ?

The idea is that if I died, my share of house goes to kids and vice versa so surviving parent retains ownership of 50% of house but I can see now how this is causing more potential problems then it solves bec I hadn't thought about adult children getting married etc. Sounded like a great idea at kitchen table! Thanks to everyone for replies.