new wife and will

A

Andynb

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I`m in my 50`s never married. I have two grown up children from a previous relationship.
I setup a will around 15 years back, that my children will split my estate 50/50.

I current have a house (small mortgage left).
Around 400K in pensions, plus a 300K on death payment from work.
All my pensions are currently set up that my children again split these 50/50.

looking to get married in the near future (not the children's mother). But really want to make sure my kids are really looked after, and to keep the will as is and the pension beneficiaries, but i think if i do get married the 1/3rd rule will applies. Is there anyway around this, seeing as these assets were built up way before myself and my new partner were married?
I want to try and protect my children, as much as possible.
 
Hi Andy

I don't know the law and relationships is not one of my areas of expertise either, but...

have you discussed this with your future wife?

Are you planning or likely to have kids with your future wife?

Is she financially independent as well?

It strikes me as a bit odd that you want to get married but you don't want your wife to inherit anything when you die.

What if she needs it more than your two sons?

If she has around €1m in assets as well, would you want a share in it if she dies before you?

If she moves into your house and lives with you for 20 years when you die, would you not want her to get the house?

Brendan
 
1) Talk to your intended and see if you are in agreement on everything. It's better to find out now if you are not in agreement than to find it out when you are married.
2) Talk to your children about your plans.
3) Talk to a solicitor to implement them.

You absolutely must avoid a dispute between your wife and your kids after you die. Such a dispute would wreck relationships and cost both sides a lot of money.

Brendan
 
Hi Audi, I hope you and your new wife live long and happy lives.

So breakdown your assets, death in service benefit dies when you retire. So if you die before the age of 65 you want your kids to inherit this 50:50. Your company may take your wishes into account but they will also consider you have a spouse, and she may need financial aid as well. Many companies ask you to nominate who gets the death in service benefit but the small print allows them to have the final decision. The fact your children are no longer dependant would be a factor.

Then you have pension assets of €400K, if you take a modest pension of €16K pa for 25 years it will all be gone. (I am ignoring the fund growth). So if you live to 85 that asset is used up.

And your house. If you need nursing home care you may end up using this asset to fund your care which again depletes what your children can inherit.

Essentially if you live a long life your children can expect a modest inheritance of part of a house.

Your wife to be, what assets does she have, house, pension, death in service benefit. Does she have children, previous spouse? Do ye plan to merge your finances after the wedding. Is she going to sell her home and move in with you?

If you die first where will she live? Do you have a spouses pension that she gets on your death? Will she have sufficient to live on if you die? Say you die at 85, by that stage you will have been married 30 years, what kind of lifestyle do you want for your spouse then. Do you want her to leave her home of 30 years and go where?

I think you need legal advice to determine what you can do when you die. But you also need to have honest conversations with your spouse to be and your children. What if you set up your will leaving a life interest to your wife with the proviso you children inherit on her death. Maybe she will have a reciprocal will based on her assets and children. Maybe if you both have houses you can consider selling them both and buying a new house that you both own equally to be your new family home.

But yes if you get married your wife will inherit a minimum of 1/3 but by the time you die you will have long retired and used a large proportion of you pension pot on yourself and your wife.
 
Many thanks for the input, i`m just trying to work a few things out.
Yes sorry it sounded a little blunt from my initial description above. But was trying to figure stuff out from my childrens point of view
But there as been a little bit of animosity between my children and new partner.
ok a little more back ground. We both have never married before, we are both in our 50`s, my partner never had children. She currently isn`t working, but holds around 200K in the bank. She will inherit a house, which will be split with her other sister. which would give her around 200K. She owns no house, and would move in with myself. So she would hold a few assets already herself.

Yes of course i would want to make sure my wife was looked after upon my death, but she does already have a fair few assets, and so would like to make sure my children are looked after also, it would be remiss of me if i didn`t make sure of my views on this.

I would have a UK and Irish pension state pension so should be able to live a reasonable retirement together. With saying that, we also, both have strong UK ties and might in the future move to the UK, where it would be completely different again i guess, but also easier to make a trust will.
 
You can always say she has the right to remain in the home until she dies and then the property reverts to your children.

But you need to follow the advice given by mf1 on the thread that Sue Ellen linked to. She is a solicitor and has experience on these matters. Everything else is unqualified opinion.
 
Whatever about anything else, you really need to chat to your future bride about all of this. If not, you could find yourself getting used to the bachelor life whether you like it or not ;)
 
I believe that any marriage nullifies a will written prior to the marriage so Andy will need to write a new will when he marries and I presume also his bride.
 
The fundamental question here is "Why are you getting married?"

If you do not want her to get anything on your death, then the simplest approach might be just to live together without getting married.

If she has no income at present, then there are tax advantages to getting married.

But if you have some non-financial reasons for getting married and you are going to live together in the same house for the next 20 or more years, then the very least she should get is the family home. And not just a right to live in it. A right to live in it and do what she wants with it. I would think that if you are not prepared to do this, then maybe you should not be getting married.

Brendan
 
Two instances spring to mind when I read this thread, just wonder if they are relevant and if any of our legal people can confirm what would definitely apply in these cases.

A guy living in our estate used to live with his girlfriend for quite a number of years in his house. I understand that she did not contribute to the household and it was his mortgage. When they split up I've been told that he had to pay her a financial settlement because they had been cohabiting. This seems strange in light of the fact that she did not make any financial contribution.

Two friends went to see solicitor as wife had been diagnosed with terminal illness. They wanted to firm up on their wills. Their daughter is still living in the house and is due to inherit it when the father dies as his wife has since died. They were told that the daughter will need to be very careful about any partners that she might move into the house after their deaths. The solicitor maintained that if that partner were to contribute even once to any payments in the house that they could then stake a claim to their share.

In both these cases it seems strange that someone who does not make much of a financial commitment can gain so easily?
 
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