No will? 40s with child

Franky2019

Hi all

Well as the title says, we are in our 40s with no Will. Our daughter is 12 years old.

Can a will cover who our daughter would go to, if anything happened to both of us? also there is a lot of equity in our home, can a will dictate what happens to this cash? trust for daughter, what age she gets access etc?

Thank you

Mojisola

Franky2019 wrote: »

Can a will cover who our daughter would go to, if anything happened to both of us? also there is a lot of equity in our home, can a will dictate what happens to this cash? trust for daughter, what age she gets access etc?

What else do you think a will is for?

The only problem might be restricting the age that your daughter inherits - most beneficiaries are entitled to claim their inheritance at 18.

PasturesNew

You can say who she is to go to, but you do need to speak to them first

You can't dictate the age she gets the money. 18's the law.

Bear in mind, if one of you goes first, the other one might remarry, then the will is void. The other one might then get run over by a bus and their new spouse would inherit the lot due to being married to them.

Protect each of your halves in your daughter's name at least, so she gets half in her name should one of you die- and the remaining person still has their half and can remarry and get run over by a bus and your daughter would at least get half.

Keep_pedalling

Make an appointment with a local solicitor. They will go through all the what if scenarios so that they are covered in your will.

Remember that if one of you suddenly dies and you have sole assets exceeding £250k then not all of it goes to your spouse, so that will create problems for the survivor as some of your assets will be tied up in trust for your child.

Don’t take chances get your wills sorted out ASAP and get lasting powers of attorney done as well.

Keep_pedalling

PasturesNew wrote: »

Bear in mind, if one of you goes first, the other one might remarry, then the will is void. The other one might then get run over by a bus and their new spouse would inherit the lot due to being married to them.

Protect each of your halves in your daughter's name at least, so she gets half in her name should one of you die- and the remaining person still has their half and can remarry and get run over by a bus and your daughter would at least get half.

That could cause issues in that the the survivor would be shackled by a trust for a minor, and that minor would be entitled to their inheritance at 18. I would leave doing that for a new will in contemplation of marriage, undress you think you spouse is dumb enough not to make a new will in those circumstances.

TonyMMM

You can't will a child to anyone - but you can express your wishes about what you would like to happen to her, and make provision in the will for whoever you nominate as guardians to have funds to look after her.

Get a solicitor to go through the options with you - you need to cover all the "what if" scenarios.