A man married in the UK in 1970 and by 2000 had 1 child and had fully
paid for the marital residence. He had also built a reasonably
successful international business.

The same man, being a frequent traveller, and unbeknownst to his wife,
then took another wife in Vietnam and had a child with her.

The man buys many assets around the world, the U.S., Vietnam,
Singapore. Some are purchased in the name of the second wife, some are
not. Some had been purchased after the second marriage, and some
before.

In the event the man passes away, how will inheritance law divide up
the assets between wife 1 and wife 2?

"unacceptable behaviour"  wrote in message 
news:95be7e51-df5d-4ea5-b397-825985a2bc36@v23g2000pro.googlegroups.com...
>A man married in the UK in 1970 and by 2000 had 1 child and had fully
> paid for the marital residence. He had also built a reasonably
> successful international business.
>
> The same man, being a frequent traveller, and unbeknownst to his wife,
> then took another wife in Vietnam and had a child with her.
>
> The man buys many assets around the world, the U.S., Vietnam,
> Singapore. Some are purchased in the name of the second wife, some are
> not. Some had been purchased after the second marriage, and some
> before.
>
> In the event the man passes away, how will inheritance law divide up
> the assets between wife 1 and wife 2?

In the UK if he leaves a will according to his will as long as he makes 
reasonable provision for his legal wife and children.  If he dies intestate 
then there is a formula according to whether the child is of age or not. 
The bigamous wife would be entitled to nothing (but would keep things bought 
for her or jointly (see below)), however if the child was legally 
acknowledged or the DNA matches then there could be a claim on the estate.

The exception would be what you describe as the "fully paid ... marital 
residence" - if this is in joint names then it passes to the survivor 
immediately and is not part of the estate.

In Vietnam I should imagine any of his assets would go to his local wife and 
child particularly if (as would appear extremely likely) he made false 
declarations as to his marital status.


BTW next week's homework is the same question except the second wife is in a 
country where polygamy is allowed (e.g. Saudi Arabia)...