Is this normal?

stevio

Hello, we’ve just had a bereavement in the family. The deceased wants to give their grandchildren £10,000 each. Being as there is 4 of them
that’s a total of £40,000. (The estate is £90,000) the deceased has one child so they will receive £50,000.

Is this normal today only as I have grown up my experience has been one where the child/children get the lions share ( A darn sight more than 50%)
and any grandchildren receive a grand or two. In this case the grandchildren are almost getting half.

Thanks

Ste

stevio

by the way the will states a 40%/50% split

elsien

If that’s what their will states, then what is normal or not is irrelevant. The executors have to follow the will.
Other than that, there really isn’t a “normal.” Some people leave it all to their children, others skip a generation and help the grandchildren out. Some disinherit family members, others don’t. 

The person will have had their reasons and they must be respected if there is a will unless the beneficiaries decide to do a deed of variation.

If there isn’t a will then the intestacy laws have to be followed, and any verbally expressed wishes don’t count. 

MaryNB

If the will is clear and the deceased was of sound mind writing it then that's how the money will be split. What's normal to you has absolutely nothing to do with it.

I'm in the first generation of my family (on both parent's sides) where the women might inherit something. All of my grandparents' estates went/will go to the son who took over the family farm. That's my family's "normal" to date.

stevio said:

by the way the will states a 40%/50% split

A 40/50 split but a 44.4%/55.6% when you're using percentages.

74jax

If the Will states 40% to 4 grandchildren and 50% to the son/daughter, where is the other 10% going?

If there's 90k, then 50% (45k) to the son/daughter, and 40% (36k) to be split between 4 grand kids, each getting 9k.

Who is the executor, as they have given you 2 sets of workings out, way 1 - 50k and 40k and then way 2 - 50% and 40%. The Executor needs to understand the Will wording very clearly. 

400ixl

I think it will become more common. As people live longer their children will be more and more often financially set up in later life so more will be helping to set up their grandchildren.

MaryNB

400ixl said:

I think it will become more common. As people live longer their children will be more and more often financially set up in later life so more will be helping to set up their grandchildren.

I was thinking the same. If my grandparents left my money to my mother (which they won't, it's already earmarked for her brother) she'd almost certainly pass at least a good chunk on to my brother, his daughter and me. She was at retirement age by the time her father died and her mother is still alive. She has a very well paid job (far more than I'll ever earn) which she hasn't retired from yet and has no plans to, great pension, no mortgages or loans, and she's very generous with money. My brother and I will never have the same buying power especially when it comes to property (and both just a few years in to 30 year mortgages), will never have final salary pensions, and the kind of salary she's on for her job is far far higher than any recruits in comparable roles post the 2008 recession. 

Savvy_Sue

elsien said:

The person will have had their reasons and they must be respected if there is a will unless the beneficiaries decide to do a deed of variation.

Note that if any of the grandchildren are under 18, their bequests can't be changed by Deed of Variation, and the money will have to be held in trust for them.

Otherwise all very true.

stevio

Thanks guys. The deceased wishes will be carried out. I should have made clear that if the estate is 90k then the daughter gets 50k and 40k goes to the grandchildren. ignore the 40/50 split.

I was just wondering is this normal or do most still leave the bulk to their children?

Savvy_Sue

There is no 'normal'. As has already been indicated, what was 'normal' in some circles was to leave the bulk of one's estate to the eldest son, and if no sons then some other male heir (a la Downton Abbey: in order to retain any interest in the estate Lady Mary had to marry the cousin who'd benefitted from an untimely death). Seems that is still 'normal' for farming folk, because splitting such an estate equally between multiple children could leave the farm unviable. 

If people judge that their adult children do not 'need' an inheritance, and if leaving such an inheritance might expose that generation's estates to IHT, then professional advice might well be to skip a generation. Or the recently deceased might just have been very fond of the grandchildren, and want to do something for them, or they might not trust the DD with the full whack. It was theirs to bequeath, as they wished, and had it all gone to the cats' home there'd have been nothing not normal about that. 

BooJewels

I assume that this isn't really a surprise to you, as you posted a few months ago about the potential tax or care funding implications of your MIL gifting 10k each to her 4 grandchildren after the sale of her house when she moved in with you.  So, is it that was what she asked to be done, when she was still alive, or does it specifically state it in her will?