Written by Peter Stagg, Associate Solicitor

Have you re-married, or do you have children from a previous relationship?

Then a simple Will may not be sufficient to protect your family.

You want to make sure your new partner is looked after in the event of your death, but also guarantee your assets ultimately pass to your own children when your partner has also passed away.

With a simple Will, you may run the risk that your assets don’t end up with your own children. For example, your partner could remarry after your death or change their own Will to leave the assets they inherited from you to their own children.

For people who find themselves in this situation, we often recommend a special kind of Will known as a Flexible Life Interest Will.

Flexible Life Interest Wills can give peace of mind that all your loved ones will be looked after.

This type of Will provides for your assets to pass into a Trust rather than directly to your surviving partner.

The Trust can be used to benefit your partner for the rest of their life by giving them the right to live in any property you owned at your death, or pay them an income from any assets held in the Trust.

The most important part of the Trust is that when your partner dies, the Trust assets do not pass in accordance with your partner’s Will, and instead your Trustees will ensure the assets pass to your own children.

The ‘flexible’ nature of this Trust can also provide additional benefits when considering inheritance tax planning, and potentially protecting capital should the surviving partner need to fund care in their later life.

Our professional legal advice can help.

Modern life can be complex, and everyone’s personal situation is different. Getting professional legal advice from one our expert solicitors ensures our clients have the peace of mind of knowing that their wishes are made clear, and their loved ones will be taken care of.

We have offices in Bournemouth, Cranborne Chase, Crewkerne, Dorchester, Parkstone, Poole, Swanage and Wareham.