I’m 83 and my son is divorcing. How can I stop his wife getting his inheritance?

In our weekly series, readers can email any questions about their finances to be answered by our expert, Rosie Hooper. Rosie is a chartered financial planner at Quilter Cheviot and has worked in financial services for 25 years. If you have a question for her, email us at money@inews.co.uk. Question: My son is going through a protracted divorce and I am concerned about what will happen to my estate if I die before it is finalised. I am in good health but as I am 83 there is always the possibility that I could die unexpectedly. I own a house and have some savings. My will states that on my death most of my assets would be divided between two of my children. I would not want my daughter in law to be able to claim half of my son’s inheritance. My son and his estranged wife have been separated for over two years and have three children. Are there any steps that I can take to ensure my son retains his full inheritance if I die before the divorce has finalised? Answer: This is an entirely understandable concern, particularly while your son’s divorce remains unresolved. You have worked hard to build your assets and ultimately, you want to know that when the time comes, they will benefit the people you intended. This is also a fairly common concern. Divorce may be the immediate concern in your case, but many parents and grandparents worry about what might happen to an inheritance after they die. A child or grandchild could divorce, get into financial difficulty, or have a business fail, for example. Once you leave an inheritance to someone outright, however, you have very little control over what happens to that money afterwards. If you were to die while your son’s divorce is still ongoing and he inherited his share of your estate outright, the money would become his asset. That does not mean his estranged wife would automatically be entitled to half of it. Divorce settlements tend to be much more nuanced than that and it would depend on their circumstances. However, you cannot assume an inheritance received before their financial settlement is finalised would sit completely outside the divorce, either. One option worth discussing with a solicitor is changing your will so that your son’s share of your estate does not pass directly to him, but instead goes into a trust. Trusts can sound complicated, but the principle is quite simple. Rather than your son inheriting the money outright, it would be held and managed by trustees for the benefit of the people you choose. A discretionary trust could be worth exploring here. Your son could be a beneficiary, potentially alongside your other child, grandchildren or other family members, but he would not have an automatic right to take his share of the money. Instead, the trustees decide when and how money is paid out, taking into account the terms of the trust and usually a letter of wishes setting out how you would like the money to be used. The important difference is ownership. If you leave the inheritance directly to your son, it becomes his asset. If it is held within a discretionary trust, he does not own the underlying assets outright. This can offer a degree of protection and is one reason trusts are sometimes used by families even when divorce is not an immediate concern. They can also be useful where there are worries about future creditors, bankruptcy, or simply how an inheritance might be managed. However, a trust should not be seen as automatically divorce-proof. Given your son is already going through a divorce, it is vital to seek legal advice before making any changes to your will. The timing and reasons for establishing the trust will be important, and you should not make changes simply with the aim of putting assets beyond the reach of someone who may have a legitimate claim as part of the divorce. A family court can look at the wider circumstances, so there is no guarantee that assets held in trust would simply be ignored. There are also practical considerations. Trusts can bring additional administration and their own inheritance, income, and capital gains tax considerations. Trustees also take on real responsibilities, including managing the trust, dealing with any relevant tax and reporting requirements and deciding when distributions should be made, so choosing the right trustees is very important. Your other child could potentially be a trustee, perhaps alongside your son or another person you trust. Whoever you choose should be comfortable with the responsibility and understand what you are trying to achieve. It is great that you are in good health, but estate planning is much easier when you have time to consider your options properly rather than leaving decisions until they become urgent. I would take your existing will to a solicitor who specialises in wills and trusts and explain the situation exactly as you have here. They can then advise whether a discretionary trust, or a different type of will trust, would be appropriate. You could also discuss including your grandchildren as potential beneficiaries. This could give the trustees some flexibility to support them directly in the future if appropriate. You cannot plan for every eventuality after your death, but you can put some safeguards around how an inheritance is passed on with the support of legal advice.