Next of kin

iansmum

Can someone clarify for me a question about next of kin?
My husbands parents are still living but want to update their wills. My husband and I have an adult son with learning disabilities for whom it would be detrimental if he were left any money.
If one of his parents dies leaving the other and then my husband dies before that parent, would his share of their estate go to me as his wife or straight through to our two boys.. I think I’m next of kin which would be fine as my will includes a trust for any money that I might leave our disabled son. Thanks.

74jax

I'm not sure why next of kin matters?

What do the wills of your husband's parents state?

They will usually have a clause saying what to do if a beneficiary has died, ie pass to the child of the deseased or other.

Do you have POA for your son?

Savvy_Sue

74jax wrote: »

I'm not sure why next of kin matters?

What do the wills of your husband's parents state?

They will usually have a clause saying what to do if a beneficiary has died, ie pass to the child of the deseased or other.

But they do not always have such a clause, and the OP is right in thinking that the money would pass down the bloodline, to her sons, and not to her, if there is no clause stating otherwise.

74jax wrote: »

Do you have POA for your son?

that might be relevant, but if the OP is thinking that the son will lose benefits if he inherits, that's a whole other question.

74jax

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

But they do not always have such a clause, and the OP is right in thinking that the money would pass down the bloodline, to her sons, and not to her, if there is no clause stating otherwise.

that is why I asked what the wills say. Otherwise we don't know what to comment on

that might be relevant, but if the OP is thinking that the son will lose benefits if he inherits, that's a whole other question.

Again yes it could be relevant, that's why I asked.

No point giving advice on what we don't know.

iansmum

Thank you both. My FIL wants to make things simple and simply leave equal shares of their estate, obviously when the second of them were to go, to my husband and his siblings. He seems to think that just doing that will be ok and that if one of the siblings were to predecease one of them the share would automatically go the spouse. I wasn’t sure. Our wills are such that any share for our disabled son will go into trust. I know any solicitor worth his salt would try and guide him but he’s very opinionated and can be very difficult if someone tries to tell him what to do! That’s why I’m trying to get my facts straight so we can hopefully persuade him, and by that I don’t mean coerce him as I’m only trying to safeguard our sons best interests. The other factor is that MIL has dementia but is unaware so this needs to be sorted by him now. We do have POA for both of them. We do not have POA for our son as he has never been able to give consent to it happening as he has a permanent and substantial lack of capacity. Hope that makes sense. If FIL insists on the simple option I just wanted to know where we would stand legally.

jjj1980

Like others have said, it really depends on that exact wording of the Will. The department I work in handles Will writing and also probate cases so we see a number of badly written Wills which needs to be executed or rewritten.

Unless it specifies otherwise, it would be normal for any money to pass down the bloodline if a named beneficiary was pre-deceased rather than go to a spouse. Where this would end up being paid to a disabled party where it would not be in their best interests to have full access to the funds, it can be placed in Trust for their benefit.

OP, you would need to know the exact wording of the Will to know what FIL’s intentions actually are. It may be that he has already made provisions for the money to go into Trust for your son if your OH passes away before FIL.

iansmum

jjj1980 wrote: »

Like others have said, it really depends on that exact wording of the Will. The department I work in handles Will writing and also probate cases so we see a number of badly written Wills which needs to be executed or rewritten.

Unless it specifies otherwise, it would be normal for any money to pass down the bloodline if a named beneficiary was pre-deceased rather than go to a spouse. Where this would end up being paid to a disabled party where it would not be in their best interests to have full access to the funds, it can be placed in Trust for their benefit.

OP, you would need to know the exact wording of the Will to know what FIL’s intentions actually are. It may be that he has already made provisions for the money to go into Trust for your son if your OH passes away before FIL.

At the moment the will has various small bequests to in laws and grandchildren but he wants to take them out and make it simple. It says if any children predecease them both their share goes to the grandchildren, and we have been trying for some time to get him to sort it out so our son doesn’t receive anything directly. He’s finally come round to the idea of updating it but doesn’t get our predicament. We don’t want it left till he goes, should he die first, as MIL has dementia and we would have to sort it through her, presumable with the LPA that we have. I think he needs to stipulate this and will speak to him about it again. Thanks for all your help and advice.

sheramber

In England
https://www.co-oplegalservices.co.uk/media-centre/articles-jan-march-2019/what-happens-in-probate-if-a-beneficiary-has-died/

In Scotland
https://www.mylawyer.co.uk/gifts-and-beneficiaries-a-A76045D77082/
If a gift is made in your will to a direct descendant (a child, grandchild, etc.) and they die before you leaving issue (i.e. children or remoter descendants of their own), then unless your will makes it clear otherwise, there is a default rule that the issue will take the share that their deceased parent or ancestor would have taken if they hadn't died before you.

Mojisola

iansmum wrote: »

He seems to think that just doing that will be ok and that if one of the siblings were to predecease one of them the share would automatically go the spouse.

He's wrong about that.

It would only go to the spouse if the will specifically stated that it should.