Marrying again and unsure who inherits my house

Marriage and property is a minefield, even if you make a cast iron will it can be challenged and causing a great deal of trouble and expense for everyone. The same applies to so called Pre Nuptial deals.
It’s so much easier not to get married then you can leave assets to whoever you want with no encumberance.

A friend of mine remarried, after about a year her husband ceased work and contributes nothing useful, holding onto what little she has is becoming a problem.

If the OP can share the reasons she does want to get married, since it isnt one of the main reasons to marry, we might be able to suggest alternative ways to achieve what they are looking for in their union

E.g. POA if you want them to be the person talking to Drs if youre ill, a non legal humanist ceremony if you want to do something like that etc.

Co-habitees can challenge a will,

YES - you can, get to a solicitor, it is what I have done to secure my daughters inheritance

Not just by cohabiting. Only if they have made significan tracable financial contributions or are on paperwork.

There is no such thing legally as common law spouses in this part of the world (there is elsewhere)

You need solid legal advice from a solicitor, not Gransnet.

That was @ suziewoozie

A cohabitee that just lived in the deceased house can challenge the will, but they wont be sucessful without any evidence of contribution etc

Why should OP share the reasons she does want to get married? She does. End of. Her query is regarding what will happen to her assets post marriage.

See a solicitor hopefull and get good solid legal advice before you marry.

Because she is asking about advice re her assets. And if she did want to share what things she does plan to share, that would help taylor her advice better to list all the options

And yes she should get formal legal advice also I dont think there is a single poster on here who will disagree with that. We can still brain storm.

And it was a suggestion not an order. Let the OP decide if she wants to expand or not. Why shut down discussion on her behalf?

You could put your property into a trust, it is then protected and no-one can get to it then except for whoever your will states. You could leave it to your children but state that your husband lives there for the rest of his life (if he is left on his own of course!). You need legal and trust advice.

If anyone is dependent on you at the time of your death, I think (but do check) they could make a claim on the will if they were to be left homeless etc.

I am thinking of doing the same thing but have been told of another possible prob.
If one partner lives a lot longer than the other the property could deteriorate and not be worth much for the family to inherit or the partner could spend a lot on upkeep which would not be fair on their beneficiaries . All very complicated !!!!

Do not marry him before taking legal advice. Things may have changed but when my husband’s father died, leaving his estate to my husband his only child, the fact he had married a week before his death made the Will null and void and he received absolutely nothing?
A former colleague was advised to secure her assets prior to her second marriage and her husband to be said ‘if you love me .....’ so she didn’t. When they subsequently divorced, he left her with numerous debts and nothing was left for her children.

If you already have a will this will become null & void as soon as you remarry.
You can of course leave your home to your own children. You do need to think about yoyr husband though...can he live in the home for a period of time following your death etc as he will need to be protected as well....get good advice from a person who specialises in this area

You could legally put your house in your children`s name as it is owned outright.
It cost her £200 for solicitors fees which I though was a bargain
And peace of mind is priceless.

I live in my partners house and have always been concerned what will happen if he dies first , he has written a will leaving the property to his children but I am allowed to live in the property or sell it and buy somewhere else for as long as I live or wish to .

You will both need to make newWills. We factored this into our wedding expenses. You may do this before the ceremony. Write down before you have the appointment what it is you want to achieve & any questions. You will have to return to sign said wills after they've been prepared - take time to read them first, even solicitors mis spell names! Instead of naming sums ours suggested using percentages which is sensible. A solicitor who is well versed in wills should be used. Most importantly let your beneficiaries know which firm holds your will. Beneficiaries can also be Executors. Solicitors may charge for this which will come out of your estate - ask. As others have said marriage invalidates all current wills. Don't forget to stipulate if for example you want your daughter to have your jewellery. Do not trust people to "do the right thing" after your demise. There are too many instances of this not being the case.

A potential legal minefield here: my advice is to be sure to get proper legal advice before you do anything!

Definitely see a solicitor. When DH and I married (his second time, my first) our will after lots of thought and careful consideration. The surviving spouse inherits, but on their death the estate is split in two, half to his children, half to my nephews and nieces. This is what worked for us, but e solicitor was great and talked us through all the options. The will cost £195 which considering the amount of time we spent talking through the pros and cons with the solicitor represented good value for money and has given us peace of mind. Hope you find a solution that works for you

If you have a legally drawn up Will you can bequeathe to anyone you want (cats home etc.) - it can be contested but if it's clear it's harder to effectively challenge.

Make a will stipulating your children are to inherit the property. You may wish to consider your DH not being made homeless. This you can do by stating in the Will he is to be allowed to remain there with associates costs eg council tax, heating, just as if he was renting. You can also stimulate that if he wanted to move, say downsize, he can use the value of the property to do so but again any new property would be in the name of your children. If finds are left over from a sale they again go to your DC. DH will be responsibly for costs of moving. If long term care becomes necessary the house won't be DHs to consider an asset. Also would mention your DH would be entitled to a share of your moveable assets eg cash, that Renoir you have in the sitting room!

My OH and me have put an equal share into our property. Should one of us die the other has to sell up so our respective children (second marriage for both of us) can inherit their share. We discussed the possibility of the bereaved continuing to live in the house until death or moving, with our solicitor but when he explained all the potential pitfalls it made sense to do it this way. It may seem harsh to the one remaining but there could be so many problems the other way, not to mention a possible very long wait for our children to inherit. We could each afford somewhere small with the remaining monies fortunately so that is a consideration also. All our children are aware of this arrangement too so everyone is happy with it.

My Uncle’s wife died, and a few years later, he remarried. After another couple of years, she divorced him and took half of everything. His only son inherited a lot less. Please talk to a solicitor before you remarry.

You could legally put your house in your children`s name as it is owned outright.

You then have to pay them market rent for that to be a watertight "loophole"