Q: My current husband and I have recently married. We each have two grown-up children from previous marriages and sold our homes to pool resources and buy a new home together. Now we need to make new Wills. We want to ensure our surviving spouse has a lifetime interest in our home if one of us dies and that all our children get an equal share of our estate. To keep costs down, should we make a joint Will?
A: Joint Wills are often referred to as Mutual Wills. Each party makes a separate will wherein they state that they will not cancel/revoke the Will at any time in the future. This arrangement is binding on the death of the first one to die. Until the first death either party can change their Will but only with the consent of the other. If the survivor then wishes to change his or her Will, any beneficiary who is left out of their new Will can make a claim against the survivor’s estate. This is therefore not an ideal solution in a blended family situation such as yours.
Perhaps a better way would be for you both to create standard Wills with a trust that would protect your children from your previous marriage. By including your own children in your Will, they would receive their inheritance in whole or in part on the first death. If there is a concern that this would leave insufficient funds for the surviving spouse to live on, you could consider putting a trust in the Will. This would enable you to give a half share in your house to your surviving spouse so that they can live there for as long as they want to. Then on the death of the surviving spouse that share would pass to their children. The trust can include other assets such as cash and investments if appropriate.
This question has been answered by Jessica Wright, a Solicitor with GHP Legal. If you would like to speak to someone about this or any other legal matter, please visit our website www.ghplegal.com and use the contact us form, or call us on: Wrexham 01978 291456, Llangollen 01978 860313, Oswestry 01691 659194
