Inheritance - divvying up the estate of Mr Dog

System

My guess.
If A &/or B had children, the bequest from clause 3 will go to them as per standard inheritance. But not the residual in clause 4.
If no children then A & B's portion of clause 3 goes into the residual for clause 4.

Willman_Rodders

Thanks John for supplying wordings to the requested clauses.

Reading Sloughflint's subsequent post I now realise that the points I raised in this post originally have already been highlighted/discussed in an earlier post. I have therefore removed my comments from here.

sloughflint

Willman_Rodders wrote: »

Those are my thoughts. I hope they help.

The most helpful comment came on the linked thread:

Baggysdad wrote: »

But the ultimate decision is with the probate registry - so they are the best people to contact. As Localhero says, no point in wasting time and money on solicitors opinion - that's all it will be - just like everyone's comments in this thread.

which was previously voiced here:

localhero wrote: »

Before you do anything else it might be an idea to gain the opinion of the Registrar at the Probate office as you may require the court to rectify or interpret the Will. I'm afraid the opinions of solicitors may differ so I would talk to the Registrar first.
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John_Pierpoint

Very disappointing:

As explained here:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=27982539#post27982539

Chocolate fire guard material I am afraid - I have more faith in the HMRC help line operators on tax matters, and that is not saying much.

John.

John_Pierpoint

!!!!!! wrote: »

My guess.
If A &/or B had children, the bequest from clause 3 will go to them as per standard inheritance. But not the residual in clause 4.
If no children then A & B's portion of clause 3 goes into the residual for clause 4.

I hope not.
"if the beneficiary is not a descendent of the testator then the gift lapses if the beneficiary has already died." The gift lapsed to become part of the residuary.
However in this case the residuary is also partially intestate due to the two deaths and the intestacy laws allow wealth to flow sideways via dead sisters to the nephews and nieces, so the outcome was much the same.
I also went to the trouble to prove that the testators parents were dead and that his younger sister had died abroad. I went through the bother of advertising for 2 months for claimants - no "love child" came out of the wood shed.:D (Though several coffin chasing companies did)

Nobody at the probate registry seemed the slightest bit interested in what I was doing; perhaps I just looked confident or perhaps it was a Friday with several more interviews before the official end of POETS day at 16:00:rolleyes:

All goes to show how important it is to get your will well written so it stays accurate as times change unexpectedly BUT also to keep it specific enough to allow for second marriages, step children, illegitimate children etc. etc. in our increasingly eclectic
social and family arrangements.

John_Pierpoint

Anyone got any thoughts on my thread starter question:

Am I right in thinking there is a hierarchy for paying the debts and expenses but not the tax: All the debts & expenses before and after death come out of the intestate chunk of the estate and if this is not enough only then out of the residuary?, (and if that is still not enough only then off the specific bequests?)

John

wise_fool

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Anyone got any thoughts on my thread starter question:

Am I right in thinking there is a hierarchy for paying the debts and expenses but not the tax: All the debts & expenses before and after death come out of the intestate chunk of the estate and if this is not enough only then out of the residuary?, (and if that is still not enough only then off the specific bequests?)

John

Post number 7 answers your question.

RobS77

John- there isn't an accruer clause in the Will by any chance is there, under the residuary estate clause? Any solicitor with a particle of brain would include that to avoid the situation in question occurring.

John_Pierpoint

I think I've found the chapter and verse answer to my original question, but I need to double check before reporting back here.

What is an accruer clause? Can you post an example?

RobS77

Depends on how the residuary estate clause is drafted. If it is to the survivor of XY and Z, there wouldn't be one. If it divides the estate into say 10 equal shares and leaves a number of shares to various beneficaries, as your Will reading the above thread would appear to do, then there should be an additional clause that stipulates that if any of the gifts lapse, they are added proportionately to the remaining shares- thereby avoiding the partial intestacy which you appear to be describing.

The other option I suppose would be to apply for rectification, although that would involve going to court- but if the will was professionally drafted then their indemnity insurance would pick up the bill.

Incidentally, re the tax on pecuniary legacies- there should be a declaration stating whether each legacy is to pay its own share of the IHT or not. If there isn't, again sue the solicitor.