Does a stepmother have any legal parental status when it comes to inheritance tax ?

[LarryScott]

Why not just give the offspring the apartments now?

Even if there is a desire to keep them until death, giving them to the sons directly at death seems the most straightforward.

Really, the ideal is to set out what the goals are first, and the decide how to write the will.

The goals may be as follows.

• his wife should have somewhere to live
• his wife should have an income for life

In that case, a life interest in the family home covers the first goal.

Some interest in the apartments covers the 2nd goal.