Inheritance - beneficiares are dead

angel1533

What happens when named beneficaries in a will have died ? does their name get taken off the will, and their share gets divided to the remaining beneficaries ? . Or do the exectutors/solicitor have to trace the deceased beneficaries next of kin , are they entitled to inherit ?

loubel

It depends on the wording of the Will.

rpc

As loubel said - it depends on the wording of the bequest. If you post it, you may get more useful help.

There is a thread on here somewhere where bad wording created a partial intestacy (the bequest failed because the beneficiary was dead, but no other part of the will applied).

McKneff

I thought it went to the dead beneficiaries off springs.

daska

As a general principle yes, and certainly in the case of intestacy, but not automatically. There may be wording in the Will to say it goes somewhere else. It also depends on when the beneficiary died, it might make a difference if they died before the testator or during Probate. And then it depends on whether the beneficiary had a Will. If they did then, assuming the bequest passes to them it will go to their estate to be disposed of as per their Will or according to intestacy laws.

Savvy_Sue

McKneff wrote: »

I thought it went to the dead beneficiaries off springs.

My mother's will specifically excludes her grandchildren should their parent die before her. I disagree profoundly with her reasoning, and would personally split my share with any bereaved nephews / nieces. I think my siblings would do the same!

McKneff

Of course, I think my head just was full of intestacy.

Bossyboots

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

My mother's will specifically excludes her grandchildren should their parent die before her. I disagree profoundly with her reasoning, and would personally split my share with any bereaved nephews / nieces. I think my siblings would do the same!

My mum's had deceased beneficiaries' shares reverting to the residuary beneficiaries (myself and my brothers) although she had made bequests separately to her grandchildren. I talked to her about allowing the bequests to be successional but she was adamant she did not want that but didn't actually give a reason why.

Savvy_Sue

Bossyboots wrote: »

My mum's had deceased beneficiaries' shares reverting to the residuary beneficiaries (myself and my brothers) although she had made bequests separately to her grandchildren. I talked to her about allowing the bequests to be successional but she was adamant she did not want that but didn't actually give a reason why.

Mum's will doesn't have direct bequests to them either. Dad's will was the same: one of my (childless) siblings felt so strongly that Dad would have wanted something to go to them that he sent them a gift himself. I know people say that if he'd wanted it he'd have put it in his will, but as he never did anything Mum didn't want, and she didn't want them in it, I think my sibling was right!

Goldenyears

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

My mother's will specifically excludes her grandchildren should their parent die before her. I disagree profoundly with her reasoning, and would personally split my share with any bereaved nephews / nieces. I think my siblings would do the same!

I have done something similar in my will. I have a clause which blocks direct inheritance by the children of my nephews and nieces. We have no children of our own. It's an unlikely circumstance, but I just don't know them yet. They are just babies. I trust my surviving siblings to know what to do.

Tiglath

As far as I know, my Mum has written my sister out of her will because she hates her son-in-law (hated the previous one as well). Regardless, I'll ensure my sister gets half, assuming I'm in there at all. She might have decided to leave it to a dogs' home of course.