Grandmother's will

mason's_mum

Unfortunately my father passed away last April leaving a will with a fixed amount to my Aunt (his sister) and the remainder split between myself and my sister, (or our children should either of us pre-decease him) with all 3 of us as executors. - no problems so far!
Sadly we then lost my grandmother (Dad's mother) in August. My Aunt has taken care of her will - I haven't even seen it, but I find it strange that there was no such "pre-deceased" clause in her will which would have seen my Dad's "share" pass to my sister and me.
I've always thought it distasteful to challenge a will, would never "expect" to receive anything, and I have no reason to believe that my Aunt would have acted fraudulently, but as a grandchild is there any legal "right" to an inheritance?

xylophone

 My Aunt has taken care of her will - I haven't even seen it, 

https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate 

If it went to probate you can obtain a copy.

It is not impossible that the estate was left only to your aunt or to beneficiaries other than family.

That said

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

"Generally if a beneficiary dies before the deceased, the beneficiary's gift will lapse (fail) and they will not inherit anything from the deceased's Estate. Whatever they were due to receive will fall back into the deceased's residuary Estate to be redistributed. However the deceased may make provision in their Will for the gift to be redirected in those circumstances stating that if the original beneficiary dies before them then alternative beneficiaries will receive the gift instead.

This can also happen under general law in the following circumstances:

• Where a Will contains a gift to a child, adopted child or grandchild of the deceased, and
• The child dies before the deceased, leaving children of their own; and
• These children of the intended beneficiary are living at the time of the deceased's death

Then, unless the Will expresses a contrary intention, the gift will take effect as a gift to the children of the initial beneficiary."

mason's_mum

xylophone said:

 My Aunt has taken care of her will - I haven't even seen it, 

https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate 

If it went to probate you can obtain a copy.

It is not impossible that the estate was left only to your aunt or to beneficiaries other than family

Thanks xylophone, I have ordered a copy.
and I understand that she may have left it all to the local cats' home if she wished, and I would completely respect that if that was what she wanted to do!

Dox

mason's_mum said:

Sadly we then lost my grandmother (Dad's mother) in August. My Aunt has taken care of her will - I haven't even seen it, but I find it strange that there was no such "pre-deceased" clause in her will which would have seen my Dad's "share" pass to my sister and me.

Why is it strange? Your grandmother may have just such a clause, but leaving it all to her daughter, which wouldn't be at all unusual.

I've always thought it distasteful to challenge a will, would never "expect" to receive anything, and I have no reason to believe that my Aunt would have acted fraudulently, but as a grandchild is there any legal "right" to an inheritance?

Not in this situation.

mason's_mum

Dox said:

mason's_mum said:

Sadly we then lost my grandmother (Dad's mother) in August. My Aunt has taken care of her will - I haven't even seen it, but I find it strange that there was no such "pre-deceased" clause in her will which would have seen my Dad's "share" pass to my sister and me.

Why is it strange? Your grandmother may have just such a clause, but leaving it all to her daughter, which wouldn't be at all unusual.

I personally find it strange that she would want to leave it all to her daughter and (eventually) her 3 grandsons while effectively disinheriting her 2 granddaughters. I know from my Dad's will that he wouldn't have wanted my children to lose out had I died before him. maybe it's me that's strange!?
Anyway, I've ordered a copy of the will so we'll see what her wishes were.

MovingForwards

Maybe the will wasn't updated after the grandsons were born, maybe the nan wanted to keep the money in the family name and knows when females get married they lose the name.
Who said anything was /wasnt left to the grandkids as you never mentioned that in your OP merely about the predeceased clause, maybe the will wasn't even updated after being drawn up originally, not everyone reviews wills on a regular basis.

It's all speculation until you see the will you have more questions than anyone can give answers for.

mason's_mum

MovingForwards said:

Maybe the will wasn't updated after the grandsons were born, maybe the nan wanted to keep the money in the family name and knows when females get married they lose the name. (1)
Who said anything was /wasnt left to the grandkids (2) as you never mentioned that in your OP merely about the predeceased clause, maybe the will wasn't even updated after being drawn up originally, not everyone reviews wills on a regular basis. (3) 

It's all speculation until you see the will you have more questions than anyone can give answers for. (4)

(1) interesting theory but My Dad's sister already married and lost the name before the grandsons were even born!
(2) nothing has found its way to me yet ( and I don't expect it to) so I'm assuming there was nothing in the will to state that my sister or I should receive anything.
(3) I'm assuming the will wasn't updated between my Dad dying in April and my Grandmother dying in August as she was in a hospice with dementia and probably wouldn't have been of sound enough mind to do this, which makes me think it strange that she wouldn't have included her son in her original will, and then in which case xylophone states in post 2 above the bullet points could apply.
(4) you're right - I guess we'll know more in 2 days when I'm able to get a copy of the will.

Flugelhorn

Let us know when you get it - if wills are future proofed then there should be some sort of indication as to what happens if the beneficiaries predecease the testator. 

Manxman_in_exile

When I did a law degree 40 years ago, the gift to the deceased child would have failed and the grandchildren would have got nothing.  But I thought someone had pointed out to me on another thread that Parliament had since changed the law, and the gift to the deceased child would now pass to their children automatically.  Is this wrong?

xylophone

the gift to the deceased child would have failed and the grandchildren would have got nothing.

See my post and link above.