Contingent gift in will to child.

Lurkingtoposting17

My friends child is a beneficiary in a will. The death was recent so nothing in the will has been sorted yet.

However the sum her child stands to inherit is significant and the will specifies her child should receive this at age 18.

My friend believes this would be too young for her child to inherit at a young age, and would like to know if there is anything she can do to raise the age to 21 or 25 in order to ensure that her child receives the money at an age at which she feels she is less likely to squander it. The executors of the Will are refusing to consider the possibility and everything we can find online on mentions giving it to the child earlier than 18, not later.

Many thanks for any insights.

Keep_pedalling

Nothing she can do apart from giving the child some good financial advice. The money is theirs to do with as they wish from their 18th birthday, unless this falls under Scottish law where you can claim your inheritance from the age of 16.

theoretica

There is nothing she can do to prevent the child getting this money at 18.



There is probably a lot she can do about their financial education, up to and including arranging for them to see a financial advisor around their 18th birthday.

unholyangel

Agree with both of the above 100%.

It's all too common these days for parents to baby their children well into adulthood. They don't turn into responsible adults magically when they turn 18. Its more of a work in progress (some of which will never be completed!).

How old is your child? You can start them off on money management quite young. You can encourage them to save (and think about the best way to use their money) by offering different incentives - like for every £x they save, you will top it up by £x. Or if they save for something they want, you'll pay £x towards it.

You can encourage them to think about value for money by getting them to help you with shopping. Can even give them a budget, what they need to get and then let them pick their own food/clothes/stuff within that budget.

You can't stop them from making poor spending decisions. But you can ensure they have the necessary skills to know its a poor decision.

getmore4less

The executors are probably the trustees of the minor's trust and typically this gets handed over to be the parents responsibility.

Since the executors have been forewarned the parents don't want to abide by the wishes of the testator or the law they may want to take legal advice before handing over their role as trustees.

Brynsam

Completely understand why your friend thinks as she does, but the executors are correct: they cannot change the wording of the will and the child inherits automatically at 18 under the terms of the will.

ceb1995

Just to offer a counter view point, I inherited a small amount at 10, 13 ( i could access it with a signature at this point and for the most part used small amount to help my mum pay bills and for clothes and a laptop when i needed them) and 18 and managed to sensibly use it until i used it to get married and buy a house at 22.
Your friend should provide them with the best financial advice they can and perhaps book an appointment in with a financial adviser at 18 but i would have certainly resented someone telling me at 18, that sorry i don't feel that although you are an adult that you can access this money until your mid 20s.

Murphy_The_Cat

A relatedish question - if the child was left money in a trust, with the proviso that they get access to the money when they are 25, is there any way that the child could ask for the money ti be released when they were (say) 18 ?

Savvy_Sue

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

A relatedish question - if the child was left money in a trust, with the proviso that they get access to the money when they are 25, is there any way that the child could ask for the money ti be released when they were (say) 18 ?

Yes. I don't have details to hand but there are various cases where this has happened (and I'll rely on the more knowledgeable posters to provide them).

I'm not sure if this is a result of the law changing, or rulings being made, but whereas you USED to be able to specify the age of 21, 25, or even 30 before someone could inherit, that doesn't work any more.

Keep_pedalling

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

A relatedish question - if the child was left money in a trust, with the proviso that they get access to the money when they are 25, is there any way that the child could ask for the money ti be released when they were (say) 18 ?

Depends on what type of trust we are talking about. If this is something you want to do then paid for legal advice is required.

Brynsam

Murphy_The_Cat wrote: »

A relatedish question - if the child was left money in a trust, with the proviso that they get access to the money when they are 25, is there any way that the child could ask for the money ti be released when they were (say) 18 ?

There are plenty of people on this board who will say funds must be paid out once all potential beneficiaries under a (will) trust reach 18, quoting an case from many years ago called Saunders v Votier. It's actually quite simple to ensure a trust is set up in a way which ensures that need not be the case. Depends on the wording of the will and the type of trust.