Marriage is not only a symbol of love but it is also a legal agreement and you should know the default conditions to be able to decide if they are what you want. It is becoming more popular to have a prenuptial agreement even if there isn’t a lot of money involved just to make sure that in case of a divorce, the process is smooth and you know what to expect.
This woman also thought that it would be a smart move but the problem she had was that her fiancé didn’t really agree with her wish to leave her house to her daughter because he also has kids and would like it split equally instead of favoring just the woman’s child.
More info: Reddit
Woman always thought that her house will go to her daughter, but when she met a man with children, he thought that his kids have a right to it too
Image credits: Karen (not the actual photo)
The Original Poster (OP) who is now in her 50s has been raising her daughter alone, but that didn’t stop her from buying a house in the Bay Area, which is a region in Northern California known for the Golden Gate Bridge, Silicon Valley, the Napa vineyards, etc.
30 years ago, the property cost her $230K, but now the house is worth about $1 million and the new homeowners are all engineers and software developers, so the OP and her daughter are one of the two homeowners who are lower middle-class people. Which just shows how lucky and smart the woman was to snatch it up when she had the chance.
The inheritance of the house was never discussed between the mom and the daughter, but they are close, and it went without saying that the daughter would eventually get that house as she wouldn’t have been able to get such a nice property working as a hairstylist.
30 years ago, the author of the post was smart and lucky enough to buy a house in the Bay Area for $230K
Image credits: GiGiGi3
But the topic of inheritance came up when the OP and her fiancé that she’s been with for 2 years started thinking about getting married. The mom wanted to make sure that if anything happens, the house goes to her daughter and nobody else, and was planning on including that condition in her prenup.
Actually, she and her fiancé don’t have so much money that they need a prenup, but she was not allowing anything to take away the house from her daughter. But the fiancé who has his own 2 children thinks that this is unfair.
His proposal is to sell the house and split the $1 million 3 ways for all the kids to have an equal start to life. Although the woman is excited to raise her stepkids, she still thinks her daughter should be the only one to get the house because she grew up there and the OP paid the bigger share of the mortgage by herself. It was long before the fiancé and his kids were in the picture.
Now the house is worth $1 million and the woman was always thinking of leaving it to her only daughter that she brought up herself
Image credits: GiGiGi3
In the comments, the woman also added that $300K actually isn’t that much to help with purchasing a property, because that would be just a down payment and the mortgage would still be very high, so she would prefer her daughter have an already purchased house that the mom worked so hard for.
People in the comments agreed that the fiancé has no right to claim the OP’s property in this matter because he didn’t contribute to it and they haven't been together for that long either. They also considered it not fair that OP’s daughter would get only one third of the money when she only has her mom and the stepchildren have both of their parents and a stepmom.
The woman discussed it with her fiancé as they are planning to marry and she wanted to make sure that their prenup specified that
Image credits: GiGiGi3
If we look at the law, stepchildren aren’t even on the list of people that could get a person’s assets. They have to be separately named and the person with the assets must mention them in a will, a trust or a beneficiary designation unless they get adopted.
If you aren’t legally obliged to leave an inheritance to your stepchildren or even your biological children, for that matter, that doesn’t mean that the children themselves or the parent of the stepchildren will take it well.
Because the man has 2 children and the woman would become their stepmother, he believed the house should be split 3 ways
Image credits: GiGiGi3
They might go to court to take what they believe is theirs and the OP has to be careful when preparing the documents, making sure that the house will stay with her daughter if she still thinks that getting married is a good idea.
The Conversation found that among the cases they researched, most people going to court are members of the same generation, most of the time siblings. But more than 20 percent of people trying to challenge someone’s will have step-relationships.
It was hard to agree with the split because the woman paid for the house before she met her fiancé and thought that splitting the money wouldn't make sense
Image credits: GiGiGi3
Image credits: David Sawyer (not the actual photo)
Are you as convinced that the woman should stand her ground and not include her stepchildren in her will as other readers were? Or do you think that because they will be a family, they should be treated equally, even if it means splitting assets that were acquired a long time ago? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
The readers agreed that the man was asking for too much and it is ridiculous to expect equal treatment after 2 years of being in a relationship
Image credits: Listener42 (not the actual photo)
