Parent Dies before Grandparent - Where does the inheritance go?

moneyonmymindsam

the Exector of Grandmothers will Distribute the third share between the 4 Grandchildren.


Thank you Very happy potential news for my friend ..she said to me ...bad enough losing their own mother but to be cut out of Gran's inheritance because she has died didn't seem fair at all.

missbiggles1

moneyonmymindsam wrote: »

Everything gets left to the daughter who my friend entrusts to share equally between her siblings to give them a good future ..she is the eldest and most sensible and at this time all of the siblings are in agreement that she should be in control.


We all know daughter could keep everything and tell rest of them hard luck but daughter just simply would not do that...its a risk they are all prepared to take.


They all love each other so much and with the pending loss of their mother to terminal cancer and now potentially their grandmother they are in no fit state and not really old enough or emotionally strong enough to deal with these matters.

That's a very risky strategy and I could see it causing all sorts of problems in the future. When mum's gone, all hell could break loose.

moneyonmymindsam

I have said the same too ...but her wishes.


On Friends estate after all bills are paid there will be little to fight over to be honest ...daughter will equal share all 4 ways with what is left...can't really fight over what isn't there

p00hsticks

moneyonmymindsam wrote: »

Will can not or will not be changed now as Grandmother not of sound mind to change..

Then really, there's not a lot your friend can do, is there ?
As "keep pedalling" says, it's going to depend on exactly how the will is worded.

If there was no will, under intestacy law (assuming we are talking England and Wales), grandmother's estate would be divided equally between her children, with the grandchildren getting their parents share if the parent had predeceased the grandparent.

A will may also be worded in this way, but could say that the estate be split between surviving children only.

If your friend doesn't know what the will says, and is not in a position to get it changed anyhow, then there is really no point in worrying about it now....

SevenOfNine

There is no definitive answer to the question without sight of Gran's Will. It could be written either way.

Our Wills are a little more complex but essentially state that if one of our two sons predeceases us, his 'share' will pass to his children. However, I think it was PollyPenny who said recently that her Mother's Will was a division only between her surviving children, grandchildren did not get any if their parent had died, the living beneficieries got a bigger slice.

Gran's Will really could have either scenario and po0sticks has pretty much summed it up nicely.

moneyonmymindsam

Thank you so much everyone for replies

Savvy_Sue

SevenOfNine wrote: »

However, I think it was PollyPenny who said recently that her Mother's Will was a division only between her surviving children, grandchildren did not get any if their parent had died, the living beneficieries got a bigger slice.

I don't know about PollyPenny, but my parents' wills were worded that way. My mother's reasoning was that she didn't feel she knew her grandchildren well enough, and Dad would never do anything Mum didn't agree with.

Fortunately we all outlived them, but the executors (a sibling and I) were in total agreement that we'd do a deed of variation to make sure the grandchildren weren't doubly disadvantaged (losing a parent and not inheriting 'their share'). I know none of our other siblings would have disagreed with that. And I know some people don't think you should go against the dead person's wishes. That was just the way we felt.

OP, you say your friend's estate won't be very much, but if your friend's eldest daughter is in receipt of means-tested benefits, or going through a relationship breakup, then it would definitely be worth changing the will and just making eldest executor. She could probably get a solicitor to come to her if going out for an appointment is too much.

getmore4less

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Fortunately we all outlived them, but the executors (a sibling and I) were in total agreement that we'd do a deed of variation to make sure the grandchildren weren't doubly disadvantaged (losing a parent and not inheriting 'their share'). I know none of our other siblings would have disagreed with that. And I know some people don't think you should go against the dead person's wishes. That was just the way we felt.
.

Executors don't do a deed of variation the benificiaries that are giving up their inheritance do and ALL need to sign.

Savvy_Sue

getmore4less wrote: »

Executors don't do a deed of variation the benificiaries that are giving up their inheritance do

Yes, but it would have affected all the beneficiaries equally, including us as executors, so we'd have said to the remaining siblings "we'd like to propose a DofV to ensure Fred / Freda's children don't miss out, you will sign won't you?" And we'd have got the wording sorted, and they'd all have signed.

getmore4less wrote: »

and ALL need to sign.

Apparently, as I've read somewhere else on here, only disadvantaged beneficiaries need to sign. Although in our case I'm 100% sure we'd all have agreed.

(Although it is possible that the beneficiaries without children might have offered to be more generous in the situation I described, and to make up the deceased sibling's share from their own, but we didn't have to find out.)

dashriprock

As no-one has died yet... has anyone thought of simply making new wills?

Over the past few years, we (my wife and I) have a lot of ill family, including children... we went on google and typed in Money Saving Expert Wills. On its guide page titled "Cheap and free wills" MSE listed a law firm in Cambridge (not allowed to name companies or firms) but its wills department is called Expert Wills. They are open at the weekends which suited us as we're still both working (we have to keep working because we lost a fortune from our pension, but that's another story), and are offering half price wills over the phone, so we snapped up their offer. They are also doing probate for just 3% for MSE consumers, and this has helped out my cousin no end after the mess she was left with... that was also a case where her daughter died before her!