Wills - Some Very Naive Questions

Saga

(1) When it comes to thinking about a will before engaging the services of a will writer, how do you deal with all the possibility of various beneficiaries predeceasing you? Do you literally have to consider each and every permutation?

(2) I know it's very weird to will money/possessions to people you aren't in contact with, but do you have to know the full legal name, dob, and address of each beneficiary, or is it enough to just list a name and relationship, e.g. "the children of Janet Smith (half-sister who emigrated to Australia c.1966 and died 2011)"?

Robin9

(1) Don't go to a will writer - pay the extra and use a solicitor. He/she will ask those what if / have you thought of 

Savvy_Sue

Saga said:

(1) When it comes to thinking about a will before engaging the services of a will writer, how do you deal with all the possibility of various beneficiaries predeceasing you? Do you literally have to consider each and every permutation?

No, as stated, go to a proper solicitor and let them ask the What If questions and explain what will happen in each situation. For example, if you are leaving something to your children, the default option is that if they pre-decease you but have children, the children inherit their parents' share. If you don't want that to happen, you have to say so. I think this is a general principle, not just for your own children, ie if I leave my neighbour Fred £500 and he dies before me, I think Fred's children would get the dosh unless I make it clear in the will that he doesn't. 

Saga said:

(2) I know it's very weird to will money/possessions to people you aren't in contact with, but do you have to know the full legal name, dob, and address of each beneficiary, or is it enough to just list a name and relationship, e.g. "the children of Janet Smith (half-sister who emigrated to Australia c.1966 and died 2011)"?

What you have to think about (and again the solicitor will help by asking the right questions) is how hard do you want to make it for your executors? You can of course leave money to people you are not in contact with, but if you are expecting your executors to track down a bunch of people with whom you don't have easy contact details, then please make sure they are adequately rewarded for what may be a time-consuming task - that's assuming you are not using professionals, who will charge a more than adequate amount for this, leaving less to your beneficiaries. 

Obviously I don't know how big your estate is, but if these are only going to be nominal sums, it could end up being a hugely problematic task. More worthwhile if you are a multi-millionaire and these are your only beneficiaries, of course ... 

getmore4less

Saga said:

(1) When it comes to thinking about a will before engaging the services of a will writer, how do you deal with all the possibility of various beneficiaries predeceasing you? Do you literally have to consider each and every permutation?

(2) I know it's very weird to will money/possessions to people you aren't in contact with, but do you have to know the full legal name, dob, and address of each beneficiary, or is it enough to just list a name and relationship, e.g. "the children of Janet Smith (half-sister who emigrated to Australia c.1966 and died 2011)"?

Issue with this sort of bequest is you have a potentially difficult to track down class of people, some may have died with or without children etc.

You could have a named  executor running for the hills or just spending a lot of money on people hunters and solicitors.

if you do makes sure it is done in a way that the rest of the estate can be processed and completed even then you leave the trustee with the headache of what to do with the bequest. 

tacpot12

To be fair on the executors, the testator should do the work to find the people they want to leave money to. 

Mojisola

Saga said:

I know it's very weird to will money/possessions to people you aren't in contact with, but do you have to know the full legal name, dob, and address of each beneficiary, or is it enough to just list a name and relationship, e.g. "the children of Janet Smith (half-sister who emigrated to Australia c.1966 and died 2011)"?

tacpot12 said:

To be fair on the executors, the testator should do the work to find the people they want to leave money to. 

I agree.  If you can't find them now, how do you expect an executor to contact them?

As an executor of such a will, I would hand this over to a solicitor who would use professional searchers and it would cost the estate loads of money which means the beneficiaries that you do know and have had contact with during your life would end up with a reduced inheritance.

Saga

Thanks all!

Savvy_Sue

Going back to the original post, if I was considering leaving a bequest to the offspring of my deceased half-sister, I think I'd want to put some effort into tracking them down and getting to know them myself - even if it's all virtual! Every now and again I have a quick look on FB to see what my godchildren (now grown up with children of their own) are up to.