Wills advice

omg29

Im currently helping my mum and dad write their wills. My fil was a solicitor before he retired 20 yrs ago and has been helping me.
The way mum and dad wanted to do there wills was as following.
mum leaving certain jewellery to each of us as is dad.
mum wants to leave a lump sum of 25k to my half sister, which my dad has agreed to also. The way they see it if one dies, everything goes to surving partner, when they die  my half sister gets the 25k once the house is sold.Then the remaining monies from the property sale and other money in accounts gets shared between myself and my brother.
My FIL has advised they cant do that, and that the 25k would have to be paid as soon as . You cant wait until both parties have passed away. Surely that cant be right?

Mojisola

Is there some misunderstanding between your parents, you and your FIL?

If, on the first death, everything is left to the spouse (apart from some items of jewellery) then the half sister isn't a beneficiary at that point.

You all become beneficiaries after the second death.

omg29

My FIL is stating we cant write on the passing of both, that my half sister gets 25k only, and the rest shared equally between me and my brother. I cant see why that would be a problem.
Hes adamant this is correct, and ive gone with what he said as his was a solicitor, but i dont agree

JGB1955

There is nothing to prevent the second-to-die changing their will after the death of the first parent, leaving your half-sister with no inheritance.  The 'first to die' can't impose conditions on the wishes/will of the 'second to die'.

omg29

Even if they are mirrored wills? Sorry new to all this!!

RAS

Unless they are mutual wills, it very easy for the survivor to change their wills. And if the survivor marries, the will is null and void anyway.

Also what happens if most of your parents' assets are used up paying for care? Half sister gets £25k and you and bro get 2/6?

Do your parents own a house? One possibility is that they severe the tenancy and one divides their share by three and the other by two, with a trust allowing the survivor to life there?

And in the event there is no house, the remaining estate is split in two, one portion divided between you and bro and the other between both and half sister.

Still doesn't totally solve the remarriage issue.

Get a solicitor not family related to advise your parents.

DullGreyGuy

omg29 said:

Even if they are mirrored wills? Sorry new to all this!!

Not sure if you are missing the point or not...

Person A can have a will saying I leave everything to B but if B has died before/at the same time as me then I want £25k to go to C and the remainder be shared between D and E

Person B equally can have a will saying I leave everything to A but if A has died before/at the same time as me then I want £25k to go to C and the remainder be shared between D and E

Equal mirrored wills that work fine if both remain unchanged.

Now A dies, B survives and so everything goes to B. If nothing else changed then when they die C gets £25k and D&E share the rest.

Problem... B survives but falls in love with a 21 year old barmaid, they elope and get married and B then changes their will to leave everything to their wife.

It may be possible to do something with trust funds to prevent this sort of thing happening by moving the 1st death's inheritence out of the ownership of the partner but that will make the suriving parent's life more complex and may not be possible if property is held in joint names or insurances are paid directly to spouse.

Keep_pedalling

Do not attempt to DIY this will even with the help of a long retires solicitor a hell of a lot has changed in the last 20 years. They should make an appointment with a local solicitor to draft up their wills. 

Sarahspangles

omg29 said:

Im currently helping my mum and dad write their wills. My fil was a solicitor before he retired 20 yrs ago and has been helping me.
The way mum and dad wanted to do there wills was as following.
mum leaving certain jewellery to each of us as is dad.
mum wants to leave a lump sum of 25k to my half sister, which my dad has agreed to also. The way they see it if one dies, everything goes to surving partner, when they die  my half sister gets the 25k once the house is sold.Then the remaining monies from the property sale and other money in accounts gets shared between myself and my brother.
My FIL has advised they cant do that, and that the 25k would have to be paid as soon as . You cant wait until both parties have passed away. Surely that cant be right?

It sounds like your mum wants to leave a lump sum of £25k to your half sister, but to fund this with £25k top-sliced from the sale of the house, which can’t take place until dad passes away.  So if mum passes away first, the £25k of the house has to be secured somehow, so it’s in your sister’s name. And it gets really complicated if dad wants to downsize or needs to use equity in his home to fund care.

Presumably mum can’t put £25k aside for your sister in a separate account or provide it through an insurance policy?

omg29

Thankyou everyone, been very helpful.
exactly what ive been explaining to mum about if one of them needs to go into a care home at some point. Just got too complicated for me, i message a solicitor this afternoon for advice.

Mojisola

omg29 said:

My FIL is stating we cant write on the passing of both, that my half sister gets 25k only, and the rest shared equally between me and my brother. I cant see why that would be a problem.
Hes adamant this is correct, and ive gone with what he said as his was a solicitor, but i dont agree

I don't understand where he's coming from.

My parents' wills (England and Wales rules) left their estate to their offspring but not shared equally.

The laws are somewhat different in Scotland - could that the source of the misunderstanding?