Amending my DIY Will

Scamp3767

I listed in my DIY 'Will' that my estate is to be split 50/50 between my son & daughter. My daughter has not listed her brother as a beneficiary in her will but has left her estate to her husband then to her friends, whom I don’t even know. How can I ‘self write’ a clause that stipulates in my will, that if my daughter dies within (How many days can I stipulate) days of my death, then my whole estate goes to my son. (And not to her friends or her husband).

Browntoa

I suspect to make sure it's legal in this case I'd bite the bullet and use a solicitor


I'm sure it's something like " if my daughter's death predeceases mine " then the whole of your estate goes to your son 

wilfred30

But the OP is talking about if their daughter dies after them rather than before.  I agree though that the OP needs to consult a solicitor to find out if what they want to do is possible.

Scamp3767

Browntoa - [I'm sure it's something like " if my daughter's death predeceases mine " then the whole of your estate goes to your son ] - I have this already covered.
However the question (amended) is as below.
How can I ‘self write’ a clause that stipulates in my will, that if my daughter dies after me, but within 50 days of my death, then my whole estate would go to my son. (And not to her friends or her husband)..

Sea_Shell

I'm assuming your daughter doesn't have children.   Could there be children in the future?

TBagpuss

It's perfectly possible but I'd agree that a will is something where it pays to spend the relatively small amount to get it done properly.

It's not difficult to do - it's something like "To such of my children [name ] and [name] as shall survive me for more than xx days and of more than one in equal shares..."

You need not only to explicitly state that the gift to your daughter is subject to her surviving you for (say) 28 days / 2 months but also to ensure that the will provides for what happens to that half of your estate if she doesn't.

It's hardly surprising that she would leave her estate to her husband - most married couples tend to name one another as beneficiaries, and it would be very unusual for someone to name a sibling where they have a spouse and/or children.

Manxman_in_exile

TBagpuss said:

...
It's hardly surprising that she would leave her estate to her husband - most married couples tend to name one another as beneficiaries, and it would be very unusual for someone to name a sibling where they have a spouse and/or children.

Absolutely.

Scamp3767 said:

... How can I ‘self write’ a clause that stipulates in my will, that if my daughter dies within (How many days can I stipulate) days of my death, then my whole estate goes to my son. (And not to her friends or her husband).

Are you really sure that is what you want to do?  Do you want your daughter to find out after your death that you didn't want anything to go to her husband?  (I'll agree "the friends" seems a bit unusual - unless she had no other close family, which she obviously does)

But if that really is what you want to do you should definitely see a solicitor.  My wife and I have three law degrees between us and she is a solicitor.  We did our own wills and after a couple of years we realised we'd got them completely wrong.  We paid a solicitor to do it properly.  If you feel so strongly about this, see a solicitor.

Keep_pedalling

And after writing it what happens if she has a chid, do you want to accidentally cut off a grandchild?

DIY wills are rarely a good idea, and a solicitor will point out the pitfalls and what if situations you have not thought about or considered.