No Deed of Variation to be 'allowed' in Will

Mojisola

castle96 said:

IS it possible to stipulate this in a Will?. My brother has told me he will be stipulating this in his new Will (long story). I and my son will be the executors. We would wish to 'level up' the amounts/%s to 4 sons,, rather than 3. Brother did not get on with my 4th son. All sons + me, would agree

The only problem would be if any of three beneficiaries are on means tested benefits when their father dies. 
If they give away some of their inheritance, the DWP will assess them as if they still have it and reduce or stop the benefits. 

Sea_Shell

Mojisola said:

castle96 said:

IS it possible to stipulate this in a Will?. My brother has told me he will be stipulating this in his new Will (long story). I and my son will be the executors. We would wish to 'level up' the amounts/%s to 4 sons,, rather than 3. Brother did not get on with my 4th son. All sons + me, would agree

The only problem would be if any of three beneficiaries are on means tested benefits when their father dies. 
If they give away some of their inheritance, the DWP will assess them as if they still have it and reduce or stop the benefits. 

I agree.   

But that is the case with a straight forward gift too.   It's not particular to a DoV.  

Obviously if the beneficiary is on benefits, then there would be no point in them gifting via a DOV (rather than just giving as a gift) as their own estate wouldn't otherwise be liable for IHT.  

Malthusian

I would echo Marcon's advice to not bother arguing with him and let him get on with it.

If he realises that his "nobody is allowed to DOV this Will" clause doesn't work, someone might talk him into leaving his estate to some ludicrously complicated trust with the aim of controlling where the money goes beyond the grave.

If the three beneficiaries are under the IHT threshold and there is unlikely to be a second charge to Inheritance Tax on any gifts, they could follow the letter of the Will by just giving the money to the 4th son.