Estranged family

TBagpuss

For any children who may be in care, write to the appropriate Social Services department explaining the situation.

I think the issue you have is that it sounds as though you don't know how many great-grand-children there are , so until you know that, you don't know how many peope the money has to be divided between.

The first priority is to find out how many children there are, so you get the figures right.

Does the will name your dad and sisters as trustees for the minor beneficiaries, or does it say that the money can be paid to a parent ? If the latter, i am not sure that they can chose to withhold it (although in relation to any child subject to a cae order, they may be able to pay it to the relevant Social Services department or Local Authority rather than to the parents. If you daad is the trustee, he also need to check what powers of investment the will gives him as this makes adifference to how much choice he has about how to invest the money for each child.
It sounds as thpugh a meeting with an experiences probate solicitor would be a senible first step, to ensure that he doesn't make any potentially expensive mistakes.

Any child who has been legally adopted in no longer leally part of the birth family so would not get a legacy, but you might beed to check whether any adoption order was made before or after your grandmother's death - I think that if an order was made after she died but before the estate is distributed then the adopted child would probably still be entitled.