Hi IM's.
***I am not looking for legal advice, we have current wills - Im just wondering if anyone else has come up with a better option than we currently have.
We are on our second marriage. Between us we have 7 children ...he has 3 and I have 4. They are all independent adults living their lives.
-we have been together for 10 yrs - married for 4 years.
-we have both contributed equal amounts at the beginning of our relationship.
-we both work now and our finances are shared between the two of us in joint accounts.
-we have a house and and super as our main assets. We own our cars, the only debt have is our mortgage.
We do have wills which are currently structured that when both of us die our estate is split evenly 7 ways. The childen of the spouse that dies first will not receive their inheritance until the other spouse dies as we dont think its fair that the surviving spouse should have to leave their home and reduce their finacial lifestyle to payout children - we. work hard for our money and neither of us should have to downgrade or go without until we have both passed.
While we both agree with this decision, I am uncomfortable with this as it leaves the inheritance of our kids vunerable to how the surviving parnter chooses to conduct their finances after the other one dies. What if they remarry - that involves another spouse, their money and any potential children they have. We are supposed to get a valuation within a month of either of us dieing, then ensuring that the value of that divided by 7 is willed to the children of the partner that died. What if it all gets spent though.
How do other blended families structure their wills.
3 Replies
I would see a lawyer and make sure my kids were taken care of at the time. If he remarries your kids won’t see a cent, you have to look out for them. Even by finding a different way that they do get a payment without touching the house. See a lawyer, this is one of those times it’s important to get it right in legal terms.
Find out how to do it properly rather than just relying on what the other says. A lot can change, there could be 40 years difference between you both dying and it won't matter what was in a will 40 years ago they could all be strangers by then. Try and make it so whoever does first kids are given their share at the time of death. That seems fairer with split families.
I’d think if he died first his children would/should get a dividend of his money or vice versa. Obviously the surviving partner still needs to be able to live comfortably but I’d think the bio children from the deceased person should get their inheritance?