Two wills? Possible?

Flugelhorn

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

Not before the OP dies.

yes of course bit having a very complicated set up may make the executors job harder

TBagpuss

It is possible to set up a trust - you can leave assets to one person and have a separate trust document which instructs that person to pass the asset / item on to another - so you could leave your estate to (say) your solicitors, or to friend or family member whom you trust, with instructions to them on how to distribute the assets.

You would need to get proper legal advice from a solicitor about how to set it up.

There are two options - one is that the will states something such as "I leave x,y & z to [names] to hold in trust for the purposes I have disclosed to them" and the other would say in the will simply "I leave x, y & z to [names]"

The second is obviously more private - but equally requires greater trust in the people who you use as trustees.

securityguy

"It is possible to set up a trust"

But expensive and completely pointless (in this case). The scheme you propose would involve substantial dealing costs and capital gains tax liabilities and achieve nothing that an A4 envelope and a roll of Sellotape doesn't do just as well.

fairy_lights

I'm imagining a bigamist trying to leave a house to each wife without them finding out about each other...
Even if you could have separate wills and keep each beneficiary from finding out what the other had received, won't it be obvious anyway when they each realise they've inherited one house and not the other?

Keep_pedalling

The one time you may actually need two wills, is if you own property here and overseas.

troubleinparadise

fairy_lights wrote: »

I'm imagining a bigamist trying to leave a house to each wife without them finding out about each other...
Even if you could have separate wills and keep each beneficiary from finding out what the other had received, won't it be obvious anyway when they each realise they've inherited one house and not the other?

And HMRC link up the two estates... !!

chesky

Blimey, I can just imagine the funeral!

TBagpuss

securityguy wrote: »

"It is possible to set up a trust"

But expensive and completely pointless (in this case). The scheme you propose would involve substantial dealing costs and capital gains tax liabilities and achieve nothing that an A4 envelope and a roll of Sellotape doesn't do just as well.

depends what the assets are, what specifcally they are trying to achieve and whether they want the details to remain secret after their death as well as during their lifetime.

Malthusian

TBagpuss wrote: »

depends what the assets are, what specifcally they are trying to achieve and whether they want the details to remain secret after their death as well as during their lifetime.

The OP has specified that he doesn't care about the details remaining secret after his death ("I'd like neither party to know until after I'm gone") so based on what he has told us a trust would indeed be a complete waste of money and faff.

Mojisola

steve_king wrote: »

Is it possible to have two wills and for them both to be valid? I have property to leave to someone and it's all listed in a will. However, I have property I'd like to leave to someone else, but I'd like neither party to know until after I'm gone.

steve_king wrote: »

Because if either beneficiary saw it they'd kick up a fuss.

If they are still likely to kick off when they do find off, either chose thick-skinned, neutral executors or even name a solicitor (although this will cost the estate some money).