Translating a will

Athelstan1

Following the recent death of my mother I am in the process of sorting out probate. Not being versed in legal jargon I am struggling with one paragraph of the will, my father died three years ago.

"I give my L&G policies 12345678 and 23456789 inclusive issued by L&G Assurance Society Limited (hereinafter called the policies) to my husband and son1 and son2 (hereinafter called the trustees) to hold on trust for the benefit of all or such one or more exclusively of the others or other of my husband and son1 and son2 in such shares and in such manner and for such limited or other interest as the Investment Trustees(being at least two in number or a trust corporation) shall in their absolute discretion appoint by deed or deeds revocable or irrevocable and executed at any time or times not later than seventy nine years after the date of my death and in default of appointment or so far as no such appointment shall extend the benefit of son1 and son2 absolutely(in equal shares).

The two policies itemised in the will are still active with L&G, 1/3 of one policy was withdrawn when my father died 3 years ago. Can any translate the text above into plain English please?

Also I think the policies are assurance policies, so does this make them exempt from IHT? And if so do I have to declare anything on the IHT forms?

Keep_pedalling

Normally it is the policies that are written into trust to keep them out of the estate. These sound more like some sort of investment bonds, you cant leave assurance policies to anyone as they pay out on death.

Speak to L&G to ascertain exactly what these are, and take some legal advice about the wording of the will.