Leaving daughter out of will, advice needed please.

Christabel

My daughter in her 40s and I have always had a bit of a fraught relationship and now she's basically stopped communicating with me. I've decided to amend my will so that my granddaughter inherits my daughter's share instead. Can my daughter contest this after my death do you think? She has a really good job so will not be disadvantaged by it at all. Should I leave a letter along with the will explaining the situation to make it less likely that she would win if she contested the will? I've just copied by original solicitor-drawn-up will and amended the part where it names my two children to inherit and substituted the words granddaughter and her name in full for my daughter's name. Your advice welcome please.

74jax

It sounds as though you are doing this yourself?

Pay a solicitor, ask every question you can, they'll fire scenarios at you to consider. Or leave the will as it is.

Don't do it yourself.

TonyMMM

Can she contest it ? Of course she can, and nothing you can do or say in the will can stop her doing that if she wishes to. What matters is what chance she would have of success.

Any action she does take, however ill advised, could end up costing the estate in legal fees though so get proper advice on how this should be done/worded.

MoneySeeker1

To me, I would think the chances of your daughter trying to contest this would depend to some extent on whether the granddaughter you mention is your daughter's daughter (in other words the money is still coming in her direction, albeit not to her personally iyswim) or, on the other hand, the granddaughter is the daughter of the other sibling (ie nothing at all coming in your daughter's direction).

Some people could think "Oh well, at least my daughter is getting it and so that will be okay with me" but if they saw someone else's daughter getting it then they would feel aggrieved and there is a higher chance they will get publicly upset about it.

SeniorSam

I am sorry to hear of the family upset you have, but understand that these things do happen. Consider the age of your granddaughter and who would manage the estate for her if she is still a minor. ???

Anyone can contest a Will, but needs good cause to do so. The letter attached to your Will would certainly help, but the way you have changed your Will is questionable and own alterations, even with your signature do weaken it.. You don't need a new Will, but it would be wise to get a solicitor to draw up a Codicil to the Will making the changes and at the same time get confirmation that your alterations are in order and something in writing from the solicitor.

onwards&upwards

This is a really big step, i’d give it loads and loads of thought and considering the message I was sending the whole family about who I really was. What do you think they will all think about this and about you after you’re gone? That may or may not matter to you but I wouldn’t do it in a rush or out of spite.

POPPYOSCAR

Good for you OP.

You leave your money to who you think deserves it.

Do it through your solicitor to make it as watertight as is possible.

MovingForwards

See a solicitor.
Get them to draw up your will.
Consider leaving a token amount to your daughter.
Prepare a letter to the executor, to be placed with your will, explaining the reason for you not leaving anything to your daughter this can then be used if she attempts to make a claim on your estate after you die. Keep the letter factual, no slagging off.

Browntoa

Only normal rules that allows a challenge is financial dependence on you . Unless you were giving her regular money than a challenge wouldn't get past the starting blocks

kazwookie

Personally I suggest you spend most of your money before you died, then there will be less for the daughter to fight over.

onwards&upwards

kazwookie wrote: »

Personally I suggest you spend most of your money before you died, then there will be less for the daughter to fight over.

Ignore my post, this is better!