Isn't there some law that you have to leave your close relatives a relatively reasonable percentage? If the Mrs is gone and one of your 4 kids is an $^%@#, you can't just leave the other three 1/3 each of your estate?
You can leave it to who you like. You don't have to give to anyone you don't want to. as long as your will is properly drawn up,i.e. there are no 'grey' areas, no-one can make any claim on it, no matter who they are.
There was a program on daytime BBC, Heir Hunters, which showed people tracking down distant relatives of people who had died without writing a will.
I'd rather leave it to charity than give it to somebody I'd never heard of.
Thank you for your replies. I live in France so laws are different here as you can't disinherit your spouse or your children but having none of these I wondered what people do.
you can do what you like with what is yours in a will, but there are more grounds for people to contest than the fact that they were your dependents...there might have been a promise that amounted to a contract for instance, or a quid pro quo agreement that is enforceable.
If I outlive my sister which is likely then as things stand it goes to Cats protection....Redman didn't want me to change my will til after we are married
Its just my opinion but personally I find it amazing, given the number of charities there are that help humans, that people would leave their money to a cat charity.
I agree with some of your sentence - there are a lot of people charities and many people donate to them.
I am not a 'people' person - I do like animals.
It's my money.
In reality most of it will go to my brother and his family and my friend - the people who have been there for me when I needed them. But the CP will get money too.