Childrens Inheritance - Help !

Inderlass

Hello,

Please help. My mother recently died and left me and my two brothers as executors of her will. A portion of her estate is to be divided equally between her grandchildren. The issue is that some of the grandchildren are under 18. I understand that it needs to be in a trust fund, but I have been told that the trust fund needs to have two signaturies, one being me and the other being one of my brothers as executor of the will. This does not make sense to me, but I don't know what I'm talking about.

Can anyone please advise?

dzug1

The money needs to be held in trust, yes, and the default trustees are the executors of the will - all 3 of them. It would be wise to have at least two signatories for any investment you may make.

Are we talking large sums or small here?

meritaten

put simply, the executors of the estate need to put underage beneficiaries moneys into bank accounts which are administered by the executors - the bank will advise on this. its like a parent opening an account for a child, which will be accessible to that child on reaching the age of 18.

John_Pierpoint

How old are the children who will be inheriting at 18 from their share "in trust".
Can they be raised to behave sensibly with their inheritance?

Inderlass

There are 8 grandchildren in total, 6 of whom are under 18. My question really relates to my own three children who are 12, 9 and 7.

Despite my brothers and I all being joint executors of the will, my eldest brother has taken charge of dealings with solicitor, probate etc. I have been told by him that the children's money must be put into trust accounts to which HE must be a signatory.

What I think I really want to know is can this money go into an account to which my wife and I can be trustees until the children reach 18? And how would I go about arranging this?

Also, what sort of account would be best? The amount that the children are due is just over the annual investment threshold for a Junior ISA.

RAS

Inderlass wrote: »

What I think I really want to know is can this money go into an account to which my wife and I can be trustees until the children reach 18? And how would I go about arranging this?

The money needs to go into an account on which yourself and both brothers are signatories as you are all executors, unless you have renouced your executorship?

Inderlass

No one has renounced. What confuses me more is that my brother with children has apparently been asked by the bank for a copy of the probate. Why would this be the case? Will I also need to show probate?

John_Pierpoint

Inderlass wrote: »

There are 8 grandchildren in total, 6 of whom are under 18. My question really relates to my own three children who are 12, 9 and 7.

Despite my brothers and I all being joint executors of the will, my eldest brother has taken charge of dealings with solicitor, probate etc. I have been told by him that the children's money must be put into trust accounts to which HE must be a signatory.

What I think I really want to know is can this money go into an account to which my wife and I can be trustees until the children reach 18? And how would I go about arranging this?

Also, what sort of account would be best? The amount that the children are due is just over the annual investment threshold for a Junior ISA.

Because you are running a trust, you pay the interest to the kids and give then an R185 (they were not given the money by their parents ) Like all good little tax payers they then reclaim the tax that was deducted; they are never too young to learn the facts of financial life.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=HMRC+R185

John_Pierpoint

Inderlass wrote: »

No one has renounced. What confuses me more is that my brother with children has apparently been asked by the bank for a copy of the probate. Why would this be the case? Will I also need to show probate?

How much money are we talking about - bank is probably being neurotic about money laundering.
The two of you are really joint trustees for all the children of both of you aged under 18. The problem can then become getting any sort of realistic interest on a trust deposit.
My "trusterfarian" grandchildren are paid from an account with a bank and a building society.
Presumably you now have different surnames which will make the certification less confusing for the tax clerk, trying to remember who is who.

If it is only a modest amount an account where you keep the pass book and it pays gross interest would be a lot less hassle. When my mum died, I discovered she had created an account for each of her grandchildren with National Savings, as soon as I explained my difficulties in sorting out several accounts I got "Oh it is grandparents ?! Yes we get this problem all the time".