Legal Tip 234: How do you feel about your spouse remarrying after you death?

... or make sure he goes first .

 

I told him I don’t want him to remarry and that I want to be taxidermied and kept sitting on the sofa but he doesn’t think that’s reasonable.

 

I would have told him “his bedside table” (so you can keep an eye on him) .

 

Even better!

 

That's the equivalent of being told to get stuffed

What's wrong with a good old ppor as joint tenants (right of survivorship) & everything else in a TT nominating the spouse & kids?

I've seen several where the surviving spouse gets hitched then is the first to exit the new relationship leaving the kids from the first marriage with nothing.

 

Needs to be in the will as well doesn’t it? If you’re joint tenants what happens if one of you dies then the other remarries and the kids are young? Or do you mean new wife is a joint tenant? I haven’t looked into it enough but we just sold our PPOR and will buy another soon, need some legal advice.

 

Yep exactly. If JT then one dies and the other inherits no matter what is in the will. the full property is then exposed to future lovers.

 

Have all properties mortgaged to the hilt. Transfer 90% of your cash to a foreign bank account. Kids get access to that account at age 25.

 

Yeah, this is my nightmare. I hate the thought of my son getting nothing and some other woman getting it all.

 

That's a major consideration if the PPOR is a large % of the assets. Where the house is a smaller proportion of the assets, then I hold with my view.

Provision has then been considered for all.

Maybe my PPOR IS a cheapie.

 

I was talking to a old mate at the german club yesterday afternoon about this post who sat with us for fathers day ,as he puts on the silk wig a few times a week as everyone innocent ,and gave up after his 3rd marriage bust up and now is forever single..

He was telling me about a different way to set something like this up,and it was complex to understand as now being a no-drinker and he was drinking 14% black beer and after his 4th pint the inescapable truth burns deep..

My understanding ,in simple terms was ..You leave 1% to your wife ,nothing to your children ,but everything to their children ..But you leave what he called as I wrote in down in my small yellow 1 dollar paper old school note book-- a lifetime interest called a governing directorship where the Wife can do as she see fit and still have control of everything..
imho..

 

Life interests are no so common these days, but were back in the 1970s when the man often owned everything. This is exactly would have happened back then.

The portable life interest is worth considering in some situations. This allows the spouse to have the property sold and the proceeds used to buy a new main residence which he or she would have a life interest in.

A life interest is just a trust really. I will write a few tips about these next.

 

Thanks Terry--The WifexBoss was sitting next too me while my mate was telling me about this set-up and he wrote this for me in the yellow note pad before we started talking about some of his recent dealing's and eating.. ..
Quote..At the end of your time on earth --It becomes my Wifes holdings and she will be free to deal with it in any manner she see fit..I like the idea as I don't intend to leave a mess for anyone to clean up after I check out..

 

There are many ways to protect against this eventuality, but yes, you need to talk to a specialist succession lawyer.

People always think of this scenario, but in estate planning case law, there are more examples where surviving kids mistreat their parent's spouse after their parent dies; do everything they can to try and get their elderly step-parent out of the house ('they're taking too long to die and I want my inheritance dammit'), argue about precisely what constitutes 'reasonable support' (does my step-parent really need the water connected? is the leaking ceiling really needing to be repaired? can't they just put a bucket under it?), and many more acts that would make their deceased parent cringe.

So in blended families, I recommend that you need to be careful to protect and balance both your partner's and your children's interests after you've gone.

 

Yes... and no. You can minimise it by ensuring the deceased knows all the people who may have a claim, has made adequate provision for all those parties, and if they don't want to do so, has - via affidavit - created a statement of reasons as to why not (and those reasons are legitimate).

Courts have begun to decline requiring the estate to cover costs for claims with little prospect of success, too, which has reduced the number of 'trying it on' family provision claims.

 

Sorry to hear that x