Is there anything more we should do?.

[BradyJa]

Our daughter passed away in 2008 leaving our son in law and 2 grandaughters.
Our will was written in 1995 leaving half of the house to our daughter on the death of one of us and the other half when we both pass away.
All the money passed to her on the death of the second person.
There is also a clause in the will stating if our daughter was not alive the estate would go to our son in law in the same manor.
When our daughter passed away we consulted the solicitor but she said nothing needed to be done at that stage.
I was very concerned yesterday to receive a visit from a distant relative we have not seen for 10+ years and he seems to think that the estate should go to blood relatives and not our son in law. I do not know what he thinks our granddaughters are.
Is there anything more we should do to stop the will being contested?.

My brother has made a more reasonable sugestion as he will need to review his will soon.
He has said his money will mainly be given to his grandchildren but he would like to put a clause in his will that if they were not alive at the time the money would be split between his 2 children and if they were not alive at the time the estate would go to my grandchildren.

I have spoken to our son in law and he is happy for a will to be written in a similar way with modficatons appropriate to our side of the family. As he is an only child he has said he will have a will written in a similar way.

Is this likely to give other relatives grounds to contest the wills?.

[Barmaid]

As matters stand, your estates will pass to your son in law. by all means up date the Will as you have suggested.

As for contesting the Will, there is absolutely no point in claiming the Will is invalid since were it to be so, the estate would pass on intestacy to your grandchildren. The only other potential attack is a claim under the INheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. Unless these distant relatives can show that they were some way being maintained by you, they don't have a cat in hell's chance.

Have you, however, considered leaving your estates to your grandchildren? If you leave to your son in law, there is the possibility that he remarries and passes the estate to his new wife. Why not just leave directly to your grandkids?

[boxtops]

I can't answer your question, but it never ceases to amaze me that greedy relatives come out of the woodwork when someone dies.

[BradyJa]

Hi Barmaid

Oddly enough my son in law said the same as you for different reasons.
Our 2 granddaughters are 15 year old twins and obviously we are a little bit concerned about leaving them a large amount of money at this stage as you do worry about them getting involved in drugs etc.
He has however said in 3 or 4 years time most of the estate should be willed to them.
Our Son in law has a reasonable job but we do help him out on the financial side to some extent eg both his children had to go into hospital within weeks of each other just over a year ago along with our son in law.
They were all covered privately under his employers health insurance but the first £500 had to be paid for each child and our son in law.
We paid £1,000 and our son in law paid his own excess.
That said our grandaughters appear to be reasonable stable.
They both have had boy friends for just over 2 years and they are both son's of teachers at their school.
I know they are all very anti smoking as they all want cigarettes to be £500 a packet so I do not think they will get involved with drugs.

[Barmaid]

Well you could leave it in trust to them until they attain, say, 25? You could give the trustees fairly wide powers to make advancements to them in the meantime.

[Brinjal]

Hopefully you will both live a good many years to come and by that time your grandchildren will be old enough to inherit. Definitely leave your estate to them.

[crapmemory]

You can put a clause in your Will that states your granddaughters cannot get any money until they reach a certain age.e.g.25. I work for a Will writing company in London so I know his can be done. Whereabouts do you live?

[pizza]

BradyJa so sorry about the loss of your daughter especially leaving behind two young daughters at such an early age.
I think your son in law and granddaughters are so lucky to have such thoughtful in laws and grandparents.
How refreshing to hear about your granddaughters views on smoking and drugs you must be very proud of them.
I wish you and your family all the best for the future.X

[BradyJa]

crapmemory

We live in Cardiff so I do not think you will be able to help.

Barmaid / Brinjal

We have got to think this through over the weekend.
At present we are thinking of willing the house to our granddaughters which is most of the estate plus some of our money.
We are thinking of leaving about £80,000 to our son in law to help with immediate expenses but probably will this to our granddaughters if it is not required later.
If our son in law gets married again we would have to hope he takes a fair view in relation to the 80k.
With regard to putting my brother's grandchildren in the will as standby beneficiaries this again needs careful thought.
We go on holiday most years with his family and often we are on the same aeroplane.
Maybe we may require second standby beneficiaries just in case.

[crapmemory]

Go and see a will writer who belongs to the Will Writers Society. They will be able to advise you regarding reserve beneficiaries. They should also tell you how to leave money, property, gifts etc without the people in your will paying inheritance tax. All wills can be tailored to be EXACTLY what you want so don't let anyone tell you any different. You can put things into trusts so that the tax man won't get anything either!

[cathfromsaron]

i suggest explicitly leaving the money to your SIL until/unless your grandchildren reach maturity! plus support this with a letter explaining how important it is that they receive their mother's share!

and those rellies can sugar off, it's none of their business!