It’s only natural most parents would want their estate to pass to their children when they die. But with blended families becoming more prevalent and the complex relationships that can arise within them, sideways disinheritance is something more people are having to consider when making their will.
What is sideways disinheritance?
Sideways disinheritance refers to beneficiaries (most often children of a first marriage) losing out on their intended share of an estate due to a surviving parent remarrying.
In very simple terms, sideways disinheritance is the fate that befell Cinderella when her father remarried, then died, and everything went to his new wife leaving Cinderella with nothing.
With recent figures showing that 60% of widowed men and 20% of widowed women are likely to re-partner, sideways disinheritance is on the rise. Here at Omni Lifetime Planning we offer a wide range of estate planning services and can advise you on what to do with your will following remarriage.
How does sideways disinheritance affect families?
A real-life example of sideways disinheritance would be a situation where, in the event of your death, your share of the estate (and that which you’d ideally leave to your children) passes to your partner. Your partner then remarries, which revokes their existing will (if they have one). Should your partner then die intestate, unaware that their original will is now invalid, the entire estate – including your share and that which would have gone to your children – then passes to their new, surviving spouse.
In this way, the estate has effectively passed sideways into a new family instead of moving down your family's line.
Other examples of sideways disinheritance
The above shows how easily sideways disinheritance can occur unwittingly within families after remarriage. But there are other instances of sideways disinheritance that are quite deliberate.
An example of this would be if you are in a second marriage and have children from your first marriage. With only basic wills in place for you and your new spouse, everything is left to the surviving partner when one of you dies, and then to the children once you’ve both passed away. Should you die first, your new spouse could change their will, bequeathing the entire estate to their own children and purposefully disinheriting any offspring from your first marriage.
Marriage breakdown is another instance where sideways disinheritance can occur. Should you gift assets to your grown-up child and then their marriage ends, your child stands to lose half of what you’ve gifted them during their divorce proceedings.
Needless to say, sideways disinheritance, either accidental or otherwise, has a huge impact on families and beneficiaries at an already difficult time. Reports by the Financial Times showed a 37% increase in family disputes of a will in a two-year period from 2019-2021, with sideways disinheritance contributing to this rise.
How to prevent sideways disinheritance
Awareness of the risks, particularly if you are in a blended family, is key to putting measures in place to protect your beneficiaries from sideways disinheritance.
If you are remarried and have children from your previous marriage(s), making a new will is a good way to ensure all of your children benefit as you’d wish in the event of your death. Contact us for advice on how to do this.
The inclusion of trusts within a will is another provision that guards against sideways disinheritance. One example of this is a Life Interest Trust, which ensures any assets left to your children in the event of your death are ringfenced within the trust and are no longer considered part of the estate. This means these assets will eventually go to your children instead of passing directly to your spouse or partner when you die.
The trust can then be managed by trustees that you appoint. By naming your partner as ‘Life Tennant’ they will be allowed to continue living in your shared property after your death and claim income from your ringfenced assets until they remarry or die, whichever you specify.
Once your surviving partner remarries or dies, all the assets you’ve placed in trust will go to your children along with your share of the property. This is also a good way to help protect your assets from becoming part of the estate should your surviving partner need to go into a care home.
Sideways disinheritance is an important consideration, particularly for people in blended families or those who have remarried and have children from a previous relationship. For advice on estate planning and ways to protect your children's inheritance, including the use of trusts, contact us today.