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The above ‘nightmare scenario’ is very common. It could happen to your children because your surviving spouse or partner:
- remarries after your death;
- falls out with your children after a family row and deliberately rewrites his/her Will to disinherit your children; or
- your children are his/her stepchildren and therefore unless your surviving spouse/partner makes a Will specifically naming your children as his/her beneficiaries in his/her Will then under the ‘Rules of Intestacy’ they will not inherit.
The case study (on the right) shows how easy it is for a parent to inadvertently disinherit their children.
Some parents do make an appropriate Will but overlook the impact of the law of property, specifically jointly owned assets. See ‘Property Tenancy’ in the right hand column. It is important that you make your Will with a holistic approach to estate planning.
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- Give your surviving spouse or partner a life interest in your assets by including an appropriate trust in your Will. The trust will allow your surviving spouse to enjoy the benefits of your estate until their death or some other predefined event (e.g. remarriage) but when they do die your estate will go to your children. While your surviving spouse or partner is alive they cannot dispose of these assets, just benefit from them.
- Identify other actions needed to ensure the trust will work as desired.
This arrangement is particularly important where a husband and wife have children from a previous relationship.
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Please contact us to discuss your concerns.
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How to protect your children’s inheritance
How important to you is it that your children ultimately receive your estate?
Would you be annoyed if they received nothing at all? Many children find themselves in that predicament – but had their parents use the services of a professional will writer the outcome could have been very different.
To see how read on.
Case study
Husband H and wife W are happily married. They have two children from this relationship C1 and C2.
As sensible parents they each make a Will, in which they each give their estate to their surviving spouse, but if their spouse should predeceased them then their estate is to be shared equally between their two children i.e. C1 and C2.
Sadly wife W dies of cancer. After four years husband H finds a new partner W2 and subsequently marries. W2 has two children from a previous relationship S1 and S2.
Four years later H dies. W2 then inherits H’s estate under the rules of intestacy (his earlier Will was automatically revoked when he married W2)
W2 then makes her will giving her estate to her two children S1 and S2. C1 and C2 receive nothing!
It is so easy to unintentionally disinherit your children.
