Making a will

Dranfield_2

Here,s a problem to get your teeth into! We have 4 children,one is very good at handling money,the other three are rubbish at handling money I was thinking of leaving all of our assets to the one who is good at handling money and instucting her to pay a lump sum equivilent to a quarter of the assets into a pension fund for the other 3. My thinking being that at least they,ll have something for their retirement.
Any idea,s

paulsad

You'd probably need legal advice on that one just to make sure it was all watertight. Nice of you though - we won't have much to leave ours - if any by the time the government's finished with us but I'd just do a 3 way split with mine to save animosity - if they are rubbish with money then that's their lookout and who knows if they're going to get to pension age (in this mad world) so they may need the money sooner rather than later.

dzug1

You do not leave it to the one who is good with money.

You leave that part of it to a trust with the others as beneficiaries. The good one may be trustee, yes - but it would be an idea to have more than one.

Assuming it's a good idea in the first place, which it probably isn't.

And you will need professional advice

zzzLazyDaisy

Some-one more knowledgable will be along soon, I am sure, but my two-pennorth is:

A letter containing instructions left with a will is not legally binding, so the child who inherits could keep the lot or distribute it as she pleases.

How old are the four offspring (I am assuming they are adults?)

Is it even possible for a third party to open and pay into a pension fund on behalf of another adult?


Personally I think it is a bad idea. It is insulting to the three children who do not manage their finances in a way that meets with your approval, and is over complicating things. Depending on the ages of the other children, why not leave it in trust until they attain an age by which they will be able to stand on their own two feet and manage their own affairs?

Mojisola

Dranfield wrote: »

I was thinking of leaving all of our assets to the one who is good at handling money and instucting her to pay a lump sum equivilent to a quarter of the assets into a pension fund for the other 3.

dzug1 wrote: »

You do not leave it to the one who is good with money.

You leave it to a trust with the others as beneficiaries. The good one may be trustee, yes - but it wold be an idea to have more than one.

Assuming it's a good idea in the first place, which it probably isn't.

And you will need professional advice

What's in the will has to be complied with. Your instructions - outside of the will - for what is to happen to money after you die aren't worth the paper they're written on.

If you leave everything to child A, it will all become her money. When you die, she may not be in a position to pass it on to the others, for instance, if she was claiming means tested benefits or if she was going through a divorce.

If she died before you and you didn't have time to change the will or if she died in an accident with you, all your assets would pass to her children.

As dzug1 says - get professional advice.

xylophone

Take expert advice from a solicitor expert in wills and trusts.
http://www.step.org/

System

You can't just pay a lump sum into a pension, there are annual limits based on the person's income.
How complicated you want to make this depends surely how much you are talking about? £10,000? £100,000 ? £1m ?

Linton

Clifford_Pope wrote: »

You can't just pay a lump sum into a pension, there are annual limits based on the person's income.
How complicated you want to make this depends surely how much you are talking about? £10,000? £100,000 ? £1m ?

You can pay anything you like into a pension. You dont get the tax rebate above the limits.

kidmugsy

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

It is insulting to the three children who do not manage their finances in a way that meets with your approval

It's his money and he can insult whom he likes with it, especially if he has a residual hope that the insult might spur them on to some reflection. (Hope springs eternal.)

Dranfield_2

Sounds a bit too complicated,I,ll just have to risk it with the other three!

Prof_Ligate

Dranfield wrote: »

Sounds a bit too complicated,I,ll just have to risk it with the other three!

I have left my assets (as they are) equally between my children. My aunt did a similar thing to what you are suggesting and now my cousins hate each other and the solicitor/executor is doing very well out of the whole will administration.