Inheritance if beneficiary dies first? 13 December 2022 at 4:47PM in Deaths, funerals & probate 18 replies 1.1K views

silvercar

MobileSaver said:

Fingers1234 said:

So I strongly suspect (but who knows!) that the person concerned would not have deliberately left out the said children but this will was done many many years ago.  

I'm helping someone make a will right now and they are specifically excluding grandchildren should their own child pre-decease them; their rationale is that the (adult) grandchildren have never visited or shown any interest so they want their estate to only be shared amongst their own children still alive at the time.

So if an adult in the family pre-deceases their parent they will be punished for dying before their parent. And the grandchildren not only suffer the loss of their parent but as a result lose out on an inheritance that would otherwise have eventually been theirs!

MobileSaver

silvercar said:

MobileSaver said:

Fingers1234 said:

So I strongly suspect (but who knows!) that the person concerned would not have deliberately left out the said children but this will was done many many years ago.  

I'm helping someone make a will right now and they are specifically excluding grandchildren should their own child pre-decease them; their rationale is that the (adult) grandchildren have never visited or shown any interest so they want their estate to only be shared amongst their own children still alive at the time.

So if an adult in the family pre-deceases their parent they will be punished for dying before their parent. And the grandchildren not only suffer the loss of their parent but as a result lose out on an inheritance that would otherwise have eventually been theirs!

Um, no, no-one is being punished. They'll be dead and won't know or care about any inheritance. Even if the parent is still alive and receives an inheritance, there's no guarantee whatsoever that money will ever be passed on to the grandchildren.

If the parent has died then why should a grandchild who as an adult has never once visited their grandparent receive part of their grandparent's estate?!?! The sense of entitlement that pervades society these days is quite shocking.

Keep_pedalling

MobileSaver said:

Fingers1234 said:

So I strongly suspect (but who knows!) that the person concerned would not have deliberately left out the said children but this will was done many many years ago.  

I'm helping someone make a will right now and they are specifically excluding grandchildren should their own child pre-decease them; their rationale is that the (adult) grandchildren have never visited or shown any interest so they want their estate to only be shared amongst their own children still alive at the time.

I hope you are advising them to get the will drafted by a solicitor, this is not the sort of thing to DIY.

MobileSaver

Keep_pedalling said:

MobileSaver said:

Fingers1234 said:

So I strongly suspect (but who knows!) that the person concerned would not have deliberately left out the said children but this will was done many many years ago.  

I'm helping someone make a will right now and they are specifically excluding grandchildren should their own child pre-decease them; their rationale is that the (adult) grandchildren have never visited or shown any interest so they want their estate to only be shared amongst their own children still alive at the time.

I hope you are advising them to get the will drafted by a solicitor, this is not the sort of thing to DIY.

Yes, appointment with proper wills solicitor already booked. They're very hard of hearing so I'm just transcribing their basic wishes to make life a little easier both for them and the solicitor.

Mojisola

MobileSaver said:

Yes, appointment with proper wills solicitor already booked. They're very hard of hearing so I'm just transcribing their basic wishes to make life a little easier both for them and the solicitor.

I put our intentions into a flow-chart which helped show exactly what we wanted.
I keep a copy with our wills just in case our executors aren't sure about the wording of the will.

msb1234

silvercar said:

MobileSaver said:

Fingers1234 said:

So I strongly suspect (but who knows!) that the person concerned would not have deliberately left out the said children but this will was done many many years ago.  

I'm helping someone make a will right now and they are specifically excluding grandchildren should their own child pre-decease them; their rationale is that the (adult) grandchildren have never visited or shown any interest so they want their estate to only be shared amongst their own children still alive at the time.

So if an adult in the family pre-deceases their parent they will be punished for dying before their parent. And the grandchildren not only suffer the loss of their parent but as a result lose out on an inheritance that would otherwise have eventually been theirs!

My sister died in her 40s. She had a teenage child. That child has never made any effort to have any relationship with her maternal grandmother. 20+ years on, my mum has died. Her will, made 10 years ago, only names her living children, my siblings and I, as beneficiaries. The grandchild didn’t even bother coming to her grandmas funeral.

Savvy_Sue

msb1234 said:

My sister died in her 40s. She had a teenage child. That child has never made any effort to have any relationship with her maternal grandmother. 20+ years on, my mum has died. Her will, made 10 years ago, only names her living children, my siblings and I, as beneficiaries. The grandchild didn’t even bother coming to her grandmas funeral.

to be fair, teenage is difficult enough, without losing your mum, and it may have been in the 'too hard' category for the child then, and I'd say some responsibility lies with the remaining responsible adults around the child. If they tried but the child just didn't engage, then fair enough, but I sometimes think we expect youngsters to know the right thing to do, and to do it - and they don't. 

I felt I had to work hard to keep my boys connected with my parents - heck I had to work hard to keep ME connected to my parents - and not quite so hard to keep them connected to their other grandparents. They have stepped up when prompted, but I don't think they'd do much without being prompted. 

msb1234

Savvy_Sue said:

msb1234 said:

My sister died in her 40s. She had a teenage child. That child has never made any effort to have any relationship with her maternal grandmother. 20+ years on, my mum has died. Her will, made 10 years ago, only names her living children, my siblings and I, as beneficiaries. The grandchild didn’t even bother coming to her grandmas funeral.

to be fair, teenage is difficult enough, without losing your mum, and it may have been in the 'too hard' category for the child then, and I'd say some responsibility lies with the remaining responsible adults around the child. If they tried but the child just didn't engage, then fair enough, but I sometimes think we expect youngsters to know the right thing to do, and to do it - and they don't. 

I felt I had to work hard to keep my boys connected with my parents - heck I had to work hard to keep ME connected to my parents - and not quite so hard to keep them connected to their other grandparents. They have stepped up when prompted, but I don't think they'd do much without being prompted. 

Believe me, she tried. She never stopped trying.