Wills: Can you explicitly exclude someone as a beneficiary?

reheat

If one of your children has irreconcilably separated from their spouse, divorcing in due course, is there any way to include a provision into your will to ensure the separated spouse absolutely cannot benefit at all, at any time, from anything you leave to your child? We have not yet made a will but plan to do so.

Lizabeth21

When we wrote our wills my husband definitely didn’t want anything to go to his brother (he has his own valid reasons) and the solicitor put a clause in his will. You can put any wishes you want in a will. Get legal advice if you are unsure.

reheat

Lizabeth21 wrote: »

When we wrote our wills my husband definitely didn’t want anything to go to his brother (he has his own valid reasons) and the solicitor put a clause in his will. You can put any wishes you want in a will. Get legal advice if you are unsure.

Many thanks, that's great.

Presumably it gets more complicated if "the someone" is a spouse, or even ex-spouse, of someone who is a beneficiary.

As you say, legal advice essential I suspect.

getmore4less

If the child inherits then you will have a problem stopping them giving assets away to particular people.

even if you wrap it up in a trust there will be issues on how the child can benefit from the assets and still exclude others.

Linton

I dont think people have read the OP. Once your child has received his/her inheritance what they do with it or what the courts do with it is up to them. You cant control that from beyond the grave.

It isnt unusual to say in your will that particular people aren't inheriting anything or are inheriting a trivial sum, but that's to make it clear that they havent just been forgotten and it may limit their ability to challenge the will. However that doesnt seem to be your circumstances.

Keep_pedalling

The solution is simple, get them to make a will of their own, they would be stupid not to do so regardless of any inheritance they might get from you.

Margot123

If the person had previously been named in your will, it is advisable to include in a new will the reason why they are now being excluded.
You will then be able to express your full intention. Although, as has been said, it doesn't stop a later reconciliation and your beneficiary giving them the money.

reheat

I realise I've not been clear. The child in question would have no intention at all to pass any of their inheritance to their (in due course divorced) spouse. We are not concerned about trying to overrule our child's wishes. Our concern is whether:-

1) Whilst still married, would the spouse have any automatic legal right to a share of anything bequeathed to the child?

2) Once divorced, would the divorced spouse still have any automatic legal right to a share of anything bequeathed to the child?

Keep_pedalling

1. If they died intestate, then yes, which is why I said they need to make a will.

2. No

paddy's_mum

I think the OP is still being misunderstood.

The 'child' in question is legally an adult, proved by the fact that s/he is married and plans to begin divorce proceedings.

Reheat can write the son or daughter out of a will until such times as a proposed divorce is finalised but that then risks the 'child' being ruled out as a beneficiary if the OP should pop his clogs in the meantime.

A note of warning, and one that few people seem to be aware of, but which is highly relevant here; Divorce Court judges have enormous power to ensure fair play between warring couples. They can overturn just about any financial arrangement or previous agreements if they believe that to do so is just and right. They can order an inheritance shared or future prospects calculated as part of matrimonial assets.

If there are young children and a generous inheritance a couple of years down the line (not wishing the Grim Reaper on you, OP!) the parent can apply and probably win a financial re-think based on the other parent's sudden access to a lot of money and at this point Reheat can do nothing to prevent that.

So my advice is two-fold. Seek urgent legal advice and get the divorce under way and resolved asap.

Good luck.

TBagpuss

If the 'child' has not finished their divorce *and financial settlement* at the time they inherited, then yes, they would have to declare the inheritance and it would be taken into account, within the financial side for the divorce. Their spouse would not automatically get half, but a court would be entitled to take into account that you child had the inheritance which would make a difference to what they needed from the matrimonial assets.


The best thing you can do is to encourage your child to get on and finalise the divorce and get a financial order in place. Once that's done, it is final, and anything they inherit after that is theirs with their former spouse being unable tto claim it.

However, the protection comes from there being a court order, not from the divorce itself having been completed.

It might be possible to set up a trust with your child and others as beneficiaries, however, the down side of that is that you then give the trustees discretion as to how the money in the trust is used, so they could decide to prioritise the other beneficiaries, and it is probably unnecessarily complicated in most cases.

However, your solicitor would be able to advise you.