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The Wife Gets Everything…

A lot of people assume that if they die, their spouse will get everything. That isn’t how it works at all.

If you’re a married man with a wife and kids, your wife will only get the first £250,000 of your estate. She’ll get a right to income only in half of the rest. Everything else goes straight to the kids at 18 – ready or not!

If you don’t have any children, your wife gets the first £450,000 – but still, only a right to income from the remainder. The rest will go to your parents, or - if they aren’t alive – your brothers and sisters.

Worse still – if you die without a wife, children (or grandchildren), parents or siblings, everything goes to the Government.

And if you have a significant other, who isn’t your wife (or civil partner) they don’t get anything, unless they can prove they were financially dependent on you.

So if you want to leave everything to your spouse or significant other, get a will!

For more information visit our topical tip on the subject, or contact us for more information.

Mark Biddlecombe's photo

Posted by: Mark Biddlecombe

August 18 2009


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  • By Michael Howe on February 09 2010

    There definitely isn’t enough out there telling you what your partner, children or families get when you die.

    I got married just last month, but never realised until now that my ‘now wife’ would have got nothing before if I had died. It is sad to think of the number of couples who faced with the loss of a loved one can also lose everything…

    I was also reading another article the other day which says that in the event both of you die and you are not married but have got a mortgage together, that your property will go to the youngest of the two’s families based on the assumption that the older individual should theoretically die before the younger!

    It is instances such as these that really get you thinking about the need to get a will. No matter how old you are, your circumstances can change and impact on your loved ones more than financially.

  • By George Gordon on March 15 2010

    What a load of crock! This is just another instance where the government simply takes from taxpayers without any thought to the consequences it will have on your family or siblings.

    It makes you want to get married purely for the enjoyment of watching them not being able to get a hold of your worldly possessions!

    If we lived in the ideal world - which we don’t - your family would get everything and wouldn’t be taxed into the ground for what is rightfully theres. But so much for that thoguh when you are practically taxed for the air you breathe.

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