Options to put in my will

AnotherJoe

Is this the right place to ask some questions about options i have writing a will?



Seeing the solicitor next week but wanted to get some pros and cons of different options.
I'm going to leave some money for grandkids (my kids will get the rest split 50/50)
I will leave it as a specific % so that inflation doesnt trivialize it, or if I died with little money its not a disproportionate amount.
So, first of all I'm thinking, for example say its 5% per grandchild, that i would put a total limit on of say 20% among all grandkids so that if one or both of my kids has triplets and then quads they dont wipe out their and siblings inheritance. eg I might specify its 5% each or if more than 4 grandkids, 20% to be split equally between all of them them. Does that seem a good idea?


Second question, more involved, how to leave it to them. If its theirs when they are aged 18, what happens if one dies before that? Does that just fail? Or go to their kids if any or parents? Or the other grandkids? And do i need to specify that? And could I specify that it is only distributed to all grandkids when the youngest attains the age of 18? Or each could get their portion when 18 ? Pros and cons?


Lastly, which grandkids? I was going to specify "born before my death" but then that seems rather unfair on later ones if any. How does that work in a will? Do I need to specify this and is there a default if it isnt?



Thanks for reading.

Robin9

My MIL had the same grandchild problem - in some parts of the family it was like podding peas!

In the end she left her estate to her children. They have completed a DofV to give some of their legacy to their children/grandchildren.

Yorkshireman99

This is a classic reason for using asolicitor. If you tell him what you want he will wordyour will appropriately.

AnotherJoe

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

This is a classic reason for using a solicitor. If you tell him what you want he will word your will appropriately.

Ah yes but I'm struggling with what i want !! I'd welcome pros and cons on the limit as above, age to leave money, what to do about any gc that die before 18 and so on.

SevenOfNine

Presume you love & value ALL your grandchildren equally?

So the possible plan is that if one of your children has more offspring than another, your grandchildren in the larger family, through decisions on family expansion made by their parents, will get less than those in in the smaller family.

What if the most caring grandchild/ren, the one/s that visit most, care best as granny & grandad start getting old & infirm etc, are the ones in the larger family?

My personal opinion, the inheritance should be EVENLY split between ALL the grandchildren. Perhaps xxx% divided equally between all your grandchildren still living at your death. If any have predeceased you, it's all the others who get their share divided between them as well as their own.

AnotherJoe

I like most of that So9.
Yes, if i become even grumpier as i age and one or more GC becomes a bad egg I may choose to favour the others who smuggle whisky into my care home.
I am though tending towards all GC including those (potentially) born after my death after all its not their fault and suppose i total the Ferrari and me next week and there is one on the way I wouldnt want to exclude them. So perhaps, when the youngest reaches the age of 18 all surviving get (say) 5% each or a max of 20% divided between all. Perhaps a cut off date.

Another question, whats the deal with adopted children? Are they included / excluded ? Suppose one of my kids adopts triplets?

jackieblack

SevenOfNine wrote: »

My personal opinion, the inheritance should be EVENLY split between ALL the grandchildren. Perhaps xxx% divided equally between all your grandchildren still living at your death. If any have predeceased you, it's all the others who get their share divided between them as well as their own.

I agree with this as being ‘fairest’.

Ms_Chocaholic

It would help if you told us how many children you have and how many grandchildren up to now?

Do you have any children who don't have children?

I believe it's a fairer way to leave the money to your children and for them to share it with their children.

In our family, I have two sisters and one brother, I have two children, my brother one and my sister none. My parents shared their estate out equally between us three siblings and we all felt that was a fair way to go.

sheramber

If you leave to the grandchildren when the youngest reaches 18 - maybe 10 years after your death what do they get 5% of?

If you do not know how many there will be how many 5% of your estate do you leave?

Or will your children have to wait until that date before your estate can be divided up so that each grandchld gets 5% of the estate at your death or 5% of the value of your estate after being invested until due to be paid out?

4leafclover_2

When you leave the share to your children, and you specify what happens if the share cannot pass to one them, often you would pass that share instead onto their children, for fairness. So if you decided to do that would those grandchildren get the portion of the parents share divided amongst them, plus the 5%/fraction of the 20%?

AnotherJoe

Some good Q's there.
Basics
2 kids
Currently 2.45 GC's.


To answer some Q's

I'm thinking, if GC dies without issue, my kids get the money.

If GC dies with issue, their kids split their inheritance
The 20% is a max to determine what each GC gets.
To make it "simple" the % is determined when i die. So for sake of easy maths, at my death £2M estate, 4 GCs so £100k invested for 4 GC's kids.
Which leads me to the realisation it must be GCs at date of death unless I get tricky perhaps born within (say) 1 year of my death to put a bound on it.
Lets say of teh 4 GCs, two die in ELon Musk mars catarophem one with issue one without.
So the one without offspring the 5% goes back to my kids, the other one goes to the Martian twins at 2.5% each.
yeh this gets too complex. Easier to do it all at date of death and leave note saying my wish is each parent will also give the same amount to any subsequent GC's



So, each GC at date of death gets 5% or pro rated from 20% if more than 4.
And then only decision is, when do they get it. When youngest is 18 or as each becomes 18.