News11 mins ago
Can we do anything more about our wills?.
19 Answers
We have had our wills updated about a year ago and our 4 grandchildren are now the beneficiaries of our wills.
Our 2 daughters are both Matron's at different hospitals and the one is married to a dentist and the other to a GP so they are reasonably well off and do not need anything from us.
Our estate is likely to be worth about £800,000 which obviously means we are by no means poor but we do not class ourselves as very rich but I think we are probably come second after our daugters in the wider family.
We have been approached by 2 distant relatives demanding we should consider the wider family and leave the estate to other relatives.
We do not wish to do this as we have not seen them for about 20 years.
Should we take any further action to ensure our grandchildren get our estate as these relatives have said they will contest our wills when the time comes?.
Mark
Our 2 daughters are both Matron's at different hospitals and the one is married to a dentist and the other to a GP so they are reasonably well off and do not need anything from us.
Our estate is likely to be worth about £800,000 which obviously means we are by no means poor but we do not class ourselves as very rich but I think we are probably come second after our daugters in the wider family.
We have been approached by 2 distant relatives demanding we should consider the wider family and leave the estate to other relatives.
We do not wish to do this as we have not seen them for about 20 years.
Should we take any further action to ensure our grandchildren get our estate as these relatives have said they will contest our wills when the time comes?.
Mark
Answers
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If your wills are correctly drawn up and witnessed, than your immediate family will inherit if that is what you wish - and contesting your wills will be a waste of time for your apparently grasping distant relatives.
To whom you leave your money is entirely your concern - but it £800, 000 or £800 million.
Ignore these unpleasant people and leave your money to whom you wish.
s author Stephen King sais when talking about leaving his considerable fortune to his children - "It'll go to their kids, and then on from there - one way or another, it will get spent ..."
To whom you leave your money is entirely your concern - but it £800, 000 or £800 million.
Ignore these unpleasant people and leave your money to whom you wish.
s author Stephen King sais when talking about leaving his considerable fortune to his children - "It'll go to their kids, and then on from there - one way or another, it will get spent ..."
>>>>We have been approached by 2 distant relatives demanding we should consider the wider family
DEMANDING?
How the hell has anyone got the nerve to DEMAND anything from your will.
It is your money, I assume you earned it (unless you inherited it) so you can leave it to whom you wish. You can leave it all to the RSPCA if you wish.
I guess the main thing you need to consider is who looks after the money after you have gone but before the grandchildren inherit it.
If it goes in a trust who manages the trust, and if it is a bank or solicitor they may well charge high fees.
Also note if one of you goes first, the other may need care so there may be high care fees, so it may not all be there for your grandcildren.
Also note anything above £650,000 (split between both of you) will incur 40% inheritance tax so you may wish to find a way of reducing that if you can.
You can "give way" so much per year which wont incur any tax if you live for 7 more years.
It is up to you, but I would give the money to your 2 children and let them pass it on to your grandchildren. It may not be good for your grandchildren to inherit a large sum when they are 18 or 21 (or whatever you have specified in the will).
DEMANDING?
How the hell has anyone got the nerve to DEMAND anything from your will.
It is your money, I assume you earned it (unless you inherited it) so you can leave it to whom you wish. You can leave it all to the RSPCA if you wish.
I guess the main thing you need to consider is who looks after the money after you have gone but before the grandchildren inherit it.
If it goes in a trust who manages the trust, and if it is a bank or solicitor they may well charge high fees.
Also note if one of you goes first, the other may need care so there may be high care fees, so it may not all be there for your grandcildren.
Also note anything above £650,000 (split between both of you) will incur 40% inheritance tax so you may wish to find a way of reducing that if you can.
You can "give way" so much per year which wont incur any tax if you live for 7 more years.
It is up to you, but I would give the money to your 2 children and let them pass it on to your grandchildren. It may not be good for your grandchildren to inherit a large sum when they are 18 or 21 (or whatever you have specified in the will).
No chance of a claim. Your own children themselves would only have a claim in the rather extreme case of their being financially dependent on you to live, which is clearly not the case , and then only to the extent of making adequate provision for them. Your distant relatives are trying to frighten you with nonsense. They may know that but think you're vulnerable to such lies, or they may be just ignorant, but it's still nonsense
ditto! check your wills are absolutely correct AND ignore anyone/everyone else!
whoever you leave your money to is entirely YOUR business!
i am a grandmother myself, and if i were you i would consider paying into university funds, or similar, NOW so that if you have to go into nursing homes, the estate is not swallowed up!
cath x
whoever you leave your money to is entirely YOUR business!
i am a grandmother myself, and if i were you i would consider paying into university funds, or similar, NOW so that if you have to go into nursing homes, the estate is not swallowed up!
cath x
And don't worry about the cost to your estate of contesting such a claim. There is not a solicitor living who would start one for them or act for them in it (though doubtless he or she would charge them for telling them so !). Any court, if they tried to do it themselves, would strike out the action, as showing no triable cause, at the earliest opportunity. In fact, the helpful officials in whatever court they went to, would almost certainly ask them pertinent questions to help them as lay people, and then explain that the claim was not valid.
Disregarding your greedy relatives, there is a way that you could lose it all before your estate even gets to your daughters or any other inheritors.
If you own your property as "Joints Tenants" then both husband and wife own 100% of the property. If one of you dies then the ownership automatically passes to the remaining spouse who will still own 100% of the property.
Now, assuming that the remaining spouse gets an illness in later years and needs 24 hour care then they will finish up in a care home. With sufficient money available they could go in to a private home which you pay for until the money runs out and then the local council carries on paying for the upkeep.
If you die before the money runs out then you can leave the balance in your Will to your children.
However, If the Council decide you need the services of a care home and arrange it, it is possible that the council may claim the home and sell it to pay for your upkeep. Under those circumstances your inheritors have very little to inherit.
However, if you change the ownership of the property to Tenants-in-Common (via the Land Registry) then you and your wife will then own 50% of the house each and you can then both make Wills out leaving your 50% of the property to the children.
When the first spouse dies, the remaining spouse still has 50% of the property and the kids now own 50% shared between them.
If the surviving spouse later on needs 24 hour care then then council cannot claim the property to pay for the upkeep as it is not fully owned by you (the kids own 50%) and they would not be able to claim or even sell half a house.
You could still sell the house and use your 50% to pay for a private care home if you wish but at least the children get some of your inheritance.
Your solicitor can arrange all this or at least inform you of the pros and cons of the Tenants-in-Common arrangement.
Obviously, you have to put in the Will that the remaining spouse has the permanent right to stay in the house as long as they wish otherwise some kids might demand that they sell their share of the property and put you out on the street! Not good, but needs to be covered.
If you own your property as "Joints Tenants" then both husband and wife own 100% of the property. If one of you dies then the ownership automatically passes to the remaining spouse who will still own 100% of the property.
Now, assuming that the remaining spouse gets an illness in later years and needs 24 hour care then they will finish up in a care home. With sufficient money available they could go in to a private home which you pay for until the money runs out and then the local council carries on paying for the upkeep.
If you die before the money runs out then you can leave the balance in your Will to your children.
However, If the Council decide you need the services of a care home and arrange it, it is possible that the council may claim the home and sell it to pay for your upkeep. Under those circumstances your inheritors have very little to inherit.
However, if you change the ownership of the property to Tenants-in-Common (via the Land Registry) then you and your wife will then own 50% of the house each and you can then both make Wills out leaving your 50% of the property to the children.
When the first spouse dies, the remaining spouse still has 50% of the property and the kids now own 50% shared between them.
If the surviving spouse later on needs 24 hour care then then council cannot claim the property to pay for the upkeep as it is not fully owned by you (the kids own 50%) and they would not be able to claim or even sell half a house.
You could still sell the house and use your 50% to pay for a private care home if you wish but at least the children get some of your inheritance.
Your solicitor can arrange all this or at least inform you of the pros and cons of the Tenants-in-Common arrangement.
Obviously, you have to put in the Will that the remaining spouse has the permanent right to stay in the house as long as they wish otherwise some kids might demand that they sell their share of the property and put you out on the street! Not good, but needs to be covered.
Hi VHG
I am not putting the money into trust as my youngest grandchild is now 24 and all 4 of them are qualified teachers be it in very different subjects and ae all working and married.
Some people say they are far too young to be married but I see nothing wrong with it.
They all met their husbands at school, 2 of them were sons of teachers at the school and 2 of them were son's of teachers at other schools.
Oddly 2 of the husbands are teachers and the other 2 teach at a local college.
We are only in our mid 70's and my wife and myself are in good health and we are not on any tablets so we hope to be great grandparents
My father / mother only passed away 4 years ago 3 weeks apart.
Mark
I am not putting the money into trust as my youngest grandchild is now 24 and all 4 of them are qualified teachers be it in very different subjects and ae all working and married.
Some people say they are far too young to be married but I see nothing wrong with it.
They all met their husbands at school, 2 of them were sons of teachers at the school and 2 of them were son's of teachers at other schools.
Oddly 2 of the husbands are teachers and the other 2 teach at a local college.
We are only in our mid 70's and my wife and myself are in good health and we are not on any tablets so we hope to be great grandparents
My father / mother only passed away 4 years ago 3 weeks apart.
Mark
Hi Wak
My wife and myself are tennants in common and we have willed our own half shares to our grandchildren so hopefully none of the house will be taken by the council for care fees
We were advised by our solicitor that our grandchildren could not sell the house until both of us pass away as the consent of my wife or myself will be required.
The main problem I can forsee is the house is really far too big for 2 people nevermind 1 person.
We are helping our grandchildren financially at present.
Our main wealth is tied up in the house and we only have about £180,000 in savings.
When we were at work we mainly concentrated on building our pensions up so we do not have as much in savings as people would probably expect. We did that as our family tends to be very long living.
Mark
My wife and myself are tennants in common and we have willed our own half shares to our grandchildren so hopefully none of the house will be taken by the council for care fees
We were advised by our solicitor that our grandchildren could not sell the house until both of us pass away as the consent of my wife or myself will be required.
The main problem I can forsee is the house is really far too big for 2 people nevermind 1 person.
We are helping our grandchildren financially at present.
Our main wealth is tied up in the house and we only have about £180,000 in savings.
When we were at work we mainly concentrated on building our pensions up so we do not have as much in savings as people would probably expect. We did that as our family tends to be very long living.
Mark
Personally I think you have thought about the benifits to your family properly already and shouldn't have to worry about wider family members.
If anyone were to have a gripe about it surely it would be your children not those you haven't seen for donkeys years. If you are happy with the arrangements and they are happy with the arrangements tell these scroungers you have made adequate provision for your family thank you very much but we don't need there advice about it.
If anyone were to have a gripe about it surely it would be your children not those you haven't seen for donkeys years. If you are happy with the arrangements and they are happy with the arrangements tell these scroungers you have made adequate provision for your family thank you very much but we don't need there advice about it.
Hi Mark
I have read through this thread and I think your action in relation to your will is right.
I am not saying do this but have you thought about what you want to happen to your estate should your grandchildren not be alive when you pass away.
We go on holiday as a family about once a year and there is a small chance we could all die at the same time as we are on the same boat or aeroplane.
Marcia
I have read through this thread and I think your action in relation to your will is right.
I am not saying do this but have you thought about what you want to happen to your estate should your grandchildren not be alive when you pass away.
We go on holiday as a family about once a year and there is a small chance we could all die at the same time as we are on the same boat or aeroplane.
Marcia
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