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VA13 · Jul 23, 2009, 10:50 AM

My husband has a son from his previous wife, they live in FL and we in VA. If my husband dies, the child has a right to our house? I have to give part of the house the child? I don't know the law in VA. I want to know before deciding whether to add my husband in the home mortgage and the deed of the house.

N0help4u · Jul 23, 2009, 11:15 AM

From what I know it goes to spouse and then after surviving spouse dies it goes to kids.
I don't know any where it goes split between spouse and children.

JudyKayTee · Jul 23, 2009, 11:15 AM

The child is NOT legally entitled to anything from YOUR estate. He is not your descendent.

He IS entitled to inhert from his father.

Adding your husband to the mortgage doesn't matter; adding your husband to the deed might.

An Attorney should write Wills for both of you AND look into your assets and how they are held.

AK lawyer · Jul 23, 2009, 11:40 AM

Originally Posted by JudyKayTee

An Attorney (sic) should write Wills (sic) for both of you AND look into your assets and how they are held.

Definitely.

A joint tenancy should be fine.

If you die first, your husband gets the house.

Then, when he dies, it goes to whomever he leaves it in his will. If he doesn't have a will when he dies, it goes to his heirs, probably his children.

If he dies first you get it.

JudyKayTee · Jul 23, 2009, 12:02 PM

You quoted me in a style which I believe indicates that you cut and pasted: "Originally Posted by JudyKayTee: An Attorney (sic) should write Wills (sic) for both of you AND look into your assets and how they are held."

This is NOT a cut and paste. The (sic) (which technically should be in square brackets) is NOT part of my original posting. It is against the rules of the site to change a post, by the way, and then quote it.

I am confused why you believe my English grammar was not correct and you, therefore, used the term "sic" to indicate you were not making the "error." ("The term sic is most often used in quoted material (usually in square brackets, and sometimes italicized) to indicate that the preceding segment of the quote was copied faithfully, in spite of a mistake or seeming mistake; that is, that the mistake or seeming mistake was in the original text, and not due to misquoting on the part of the present writer." - sic - Wiktionary

Always happy to learn - where do you see the error in "An Attorney should write Wills for both of you ..."? One Attorney can write two Wills, one for each party, and I see no grammatical error there.

What do you see that I don't see?

s_cianci · Jul 23, 2009, 12:09 PM

Did you and your husband buy this house together? Even if only in your name? In my state, that would be considered a marital asset regardless of whose name is on the mortgage/deed. As such, it belongs to the two of you and you would have rights of survivorship should your husband predecease you. That said, you have no fear of your husband's son being able to take a share of it, at least not as long as you're alive. Has your husband made out a will? If so, did he mention his son in it? That would be another measure of protection for you ; that way, your husband could specifically spell out who gets what; you, your stepson and any other of your husband's heirs. That way there's no question in the event of your husband's death.

N0help4u · Jul 23, 2009, 12:10 PM

Have to spread the rep s_ciani that is what I was thinking too.
BUT that is if his name is added.
If she owned the house before they were together he really may not be entitled to anything until she adds him

s_cianci · Jul 23, 2009, 12:16 PM

If she owned the house before they were together he isn't really entitled to anything until she adds him

That may be true in your state, but where I come from it's still joint property once they're married, even if she doesn't formally change the mortgage and/or deed to reflect it. I owned a home singularly in my name before I got married. But once I got married it became joint property. When I sold it (a little over a year after we were married) both my wife and I had to sign the agreement of sale and the check was made out to the both of us.

AK lawyer · Jul 23, 2009, 12:26 PM

Originally Posted by JudyKayTee

... It is against the rules of the site to change a post, by the way, and then quote it. ...

I didn't know that. Where are those rules? I found this, which doesn't, as I read it, say that.

Originally Posted by JudyKayTee

Always happy to learn - where do you see the error in "An Attorney should write Wills for both of you ..."? One Attorney can write two Wills, one for each party, and I see no grammatical error there.

What do you see that I don't see?

You capitalized "Attorney" and "Wills". Neither word is a proper noun, begins the sentence, or otherwise should be capitalized.

ebaines · Jul 23, 2009, 12:30 PM

If the husband dies intestate, his assets are split among heirs following the rules established for your particular state. In some (most?) states those rules would split the property 50% to the spouse and 50% to the children. So while the son may not have a specific right to the house, he does have a right to half the assets that are probated. This is why it's vital that both you and your husband have wills drawn up- this way your husband can direct that the house goes to you. AK Lawyer is correct that the way you title the house (joint tenancy with right of survivorship, for example) can eliminate the problem as well.

VA13 · Jul 23, 2009, 12:43 PM

I buy this house when I was single and don't have any type of relationship with him.

JudyKayTee · Jul 23, 2009, 12:47 PM

Originally Posted by VA13

I buy this house when I was single and don't have any type of relationship with him.

You don't have a relationship with the son? Right. And he CANNOT "automatically" inherit from your estate BUT he is entitled to inherit from his father UNLESS AND UNTIL the father makes some other provision by Will.

You should discuss the best way to handle this with an Attorney - the Wills AND the real estate.

ScottGem · Jul 23, 2009, 12:57 PM

If you don't care what happens to the house should you die first, then just add him as Joint tenant with right of survivorship. With this wording, if you die first, the house passes to you outside his estate. So the son has no interest. If you predecease him, then he gets the house and it becomes part of his estate which the son is entitled to.

If, however, you want the house to go to your descendants, then create a will that does so. You can put a provison in the will allowing him a life estate. So, lets say you want your daughter to get the house. So you will the house to her, but grant him the right to live in the house until he dies or moves out voluntarily.

JudyKayTee · Jul 23, 2009, 12:58 PM

Originally Posted by s_cianci

Did you and your husband buy this house together? Even if only in your name? In my state, that would be considered a marital asset regardless of whose name is on the mortgage/deed. As such, it belongs to the two of you and you would have rights of survivorship should your husband predecease you. That said, you have no fear of your husband's son being able to take a share of it, at least not as long as you're alive. Has your husband made out a will? If so, did he mention his son in it? That would be another measure of protection for you ; that way, your husband could specifically spell out who gets what; you, your stepson and any other of your husband's heirs. That way there's no question in the event of your husband's death.

What do you mean by did they buy it together? The mortgage and Deed are both in her name.

JudyKayTee · Jul 23, 2009, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by s_cianci

That may be true in your state, but where I come from it's still joint property once they're married, even if she doesn't formally change the mortgage and/or deed to reflect it. I owned a home singularly in my name before I got married. But once I got married it became joint property. When I sold it (a little over a year after we were married) both my wife and I had to sign the agreement of sale and the check was made out to the both of us.

What State? I have never heard of a party not on a Deed signing to transfer property.

Always happy to learn - I understand community property in the event of divorce but this is news to me.

ScottGem · Jul 23, 2009, 01:03 PM

Originally Posted by AK lawyer

I didn't know that. Where are those rules? I found this, which doesn't, as I read it, say that.

First, the purpose of the quote feature is to reference what a previous poster said, EXACTLY. It is OK, to delete parts of the quoted text that you don't want to refer to (as I just did) as long as you don't change the meaning of the quote.

If, however, you want to add something to the quote like you did, then instead of using the quote feature, you can copy and paste the text you want to quote, within quote marks. You can then add your owen comments but indicating what changes you made (using italics, brackets, etc.).

For general courtesy we do not comment on small grammatical or formatting errors that do not affect the meaning of the posts.

That is how the MODs view this type of thing.

VA13 · Jul 23, 2009, 01:03 PM

Not really, only saw him once. My husband still does not want to have contact with the child, and after several years is that the ex-wife let him see the child and have a relationship with him. As I said before I bought the house long before our relationship before our marriage, my mistake was not to surrender. And I'm afraid that if something happens to my husband after I add the deeds and mortgages, I have to give half to his ex-wife, that her son is still a child.

JudyKayTee · Jul 23, 2009, 01:06 PM

Originally Posted by VA13

Not really, only saw him once. My husband still does not want to have contact with the child, and after several years is that the ex-wife let him see the child and have a relationship with him. As I said before I bought the house long before our relationship before our marriage, my mistake was not to surrender. And I'm afraid that if something happens to my husband after I add in the deeds and mortgages, I have to give half to his ex-wife, that her son is still a child.

No, you don't "owe" the child - or the mother - anything. The advice you have been given is good.

ScottGem · Jul 23, 2009, 01:07 PM

Originally Posted by VA13

Not really, only saw him once. My husband still does not want to have contact with the child, and after several years is that the ex-wife let him see the child and have a relationship with him.

If he doesn't want the son to inherit anything from him, then he needs to make a will to that effect. End of that story.

Originally Posted by VA13

As I said before I bought the house long before our relationship before our marriage, my mistake was not to surrender. And I'm afraid that if something happens to my husband after I add in the deeds and mortgages, I have to give half to his ex-wife, that her son is still a child.

Again, if you want to keep the property away from then should he predecease you, then set title as Joint tenants with right of survivorship. If you want someone else to get the house, then you have to will it to them.

VA13 · Jul 23, 2009, 01:45 PM

I really appreciate your time and all your advices. Thanks