Will I get to keep our house if my husband dies?

Absent some provision in the divorce agreement that the house would revert back to the ex-wife in the event of your husband's death, he is free to do whatever he feels is best in terms of making sure you are taken care of.

Yours is a situation SCREAMING for proper estate planning, as soon as possible. In my opinion, your husband should establish a trust to take care of the children, but he should also provide for you, in the event of his death. He can add you to the title of the home now, or he can retain a life estate in the property and have you added upon his death. I would not do this by way of a Will because that would require you to go through probate in order to get title to the property.

I normally recommend a Trust in situations such as yours, for the following reason, if nothing else: if BOTH you and your husband were killed in a car accident, for example, then ALL of your husband's assets would pass to his children. If they are minors at that time, their mother would presumably have herself appointed as custodian for the property until the children come of age. There is no telling what she could do in the meantime, unless the court severely restricts her use of the funds. Why leave something like that to chance? If your husband sets up a Trust, then HE determines who would be in control of the funds, and he can make sure that his ex has NO access to the money, whatsoever.

This should be set up through a qualified estate planning attorney. This is not the kind of situation where you want to try to take shortcuts or cheap solutions.

This should be done as soon as possible to make sure that you and the children are protected.

James Frederick


P.S. Refinancing the property will not be necessary, in order to have your name added to the title of the property.