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Implications Of Family Wipeout

MickeyTheBoy
Posts: 6 Forumite

My wife and I have two married sons each with two children of their own. We have mirror wills which on the 1st death leaves everything to the remaining spouse. On the death of the 2nd the estate is to be shared equally between our two sons, with provision for the event that the sons are already deceased with the estate going to be shared amongst the grandchildren. So fairly standard stuff I assume ?
The 10 of us are going on a foreign holiday together later in the year. In the (hopefully) unlikely event that the entire family is wiped out by some catastrophe or other does anyone have any idea as to what would then happen to our estate given that no-one defined in our will would be alive to benefit ?
The 10 of us are going on a foreign holiday together later in the year. In the (hopefully) unlikely event that the entire family is wiped out by some catastrophe or other does anyone have any idea as to what would then happen to our estate given that no-one defined in our will would be alive to benefit ?
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Comments
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Assuming you've got some remoter relatives, it would go to them following the rules of intestacy. If you don't want it to end up in the hands of remote cousins etc, you should specify some sort of default beneficiary (e.g. a charity) in your Wills.1
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As said above, it will go to the next in line. So if you don't want that, state your wishes in your will.0
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MickeyTheBoy said:The 10 of us are going on a foreign holiday together later in the year. In the (hopefully) unlikely event that the entire family is wiped out by some catastrophe or other does anyone have any idea as to what would then happen to our estate given that no-one defined in our will would be alive to benefit ?We have a 'disaster clause' in our wills which says who the estate should go to if everyone previously mentioned is dead.We have also named alternative executors to manage the estate if the clause comes into effect. In some ways, that was more important to us than where the money went if we were all dead - are there any family members who you wouldn't want becoming administrators and sorting through all your possessions and/or that you wouldn't trust to share the estate out equally?1
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user1977 said:Assuming you've got some remoter relatives, it would go to them following the rules of intestacy. If you don't want it to end up in the hands of remote cousins etc, you should specify some sort of default beneficiary (e.g. a charity) in your Wills.0
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Mojisola said:MickeyTheBoy said:The 10 of us are going on a foreign holiday together later in the year. In the (hopefully) unlikely event that the entire family is wiped out by some catastrophe or other does anyone have any idea as to what would then happen to our estate given that no-one defined in our will would be alive to benefit ?We have a 'disaster clause' in our wills which says who the estate should go to if everyone previously mentioned is dead.We have also named alternative executors to manage the estate if the clause comes into effect. In some ways, that was more important to us than where the money went if we were all dead - are there any family members who you wouldn't want becoming administrators and sorting through all your possessions and/or that you wouldn't trust to share the estate out equally?0
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MickeyTheBoy said:user1977 said:Assuming you've got some remoter relatives, it would go to them following the rules of intestacy. If you don't want it to end up in the hands of remote cousins etc, you should specify some sort of default beneficiary (e.g. a charity) in your Wills.
Saves worrying about the order of death in cases where multiple people are killed at the same time.
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I think in your sons' position I'd worry more about appointing guardians for the offspring in my own will than what would happen to in the event of a complete wipeout ... Have you encouraged them to do that?Signature removed for peace of mind0
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MickeyTheBoy said:user1977 said:Assuming you've got some remoter relatives, it would go to them following the rules of intestacy. If you don't want it to end up in the hands of remote cousins etc, you should specify some sort of default beneficiary (e.g. a charity) in your Wills.Googling on your question might have been both quicker and easier, if you're only after simple facts rather than opinions!1
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