Cat named in Will

PollyPainter

Please could someone advise? I am the executor named on the Will of my friend, who passed away in November 2022. The Will had been drawn up by a solicitor in 2019, and at that time my friend had a pet cat called Elsie - who is referred to by name in the document. The sum of £1,000 was to be awarded to whoever re-homed Elsie following my friend's death.

However, Elsie died in 2020 and my friend subsequently adopted another cat - "Ernie". Fortunately I managed to quickly find Ernie a new forever home following my friend's death.

So my question:- is Ernie's new owner legally entitled to receive the £1,000 that was intended for Elsie's new owner?

Other beneficiaries are objecting to awarding the £1,000 to Ernie's new owner - because Elsie is the cat named in the Will.

          

MovingForwards

No, because the original 'gift' failed eg Elsie dying. Her solicitor should have drafted the will as Elsie or any cat I own at my death so the £1k could be gifted.

Adamhoward20

Unfortunately I think your friend and his solicitor drafted the will incorrectly. It should have been worded as “cat belonging to xxx” or “Elsie or other cat”.

By naming the pet directly, the £1000 will only be for rehoming that particular cat, not another.

theoretica

But any beneficiary who chooses may of course gift their portion of the £1000 (or any other sum) to the cat's carer - not all need to agree and act together.

Marcon

PollyPainter said:

Please could someone advise? I am the executor named on the Will of my friend, who passed away in November 2022. The Will had been drawn up by a solicitor in 2019, and at that time my friend had a pet cat called Elsie - who is referred to by name in the document. The sum of £1,000 was to be awarded to whoever re-homed Elsie following my friend's death.

However, Elsie died in 2020 and my friend subsequently adopted another cat - "Ernie". Fortunately I managed to quickly find Ernie a new forever home following my friend's death.

So my question:- is Ernie's new owner legally entitled to receive the £1,000 that was intended for Elsie's new owner?

Other beneficiaries are objecting to awarding the £1,000 to Ernie's new owner - because Elsie is the cat named in the Will.

          

Hopefully Ernie's new owner doesn't know about the bequest (and didn't 'adopt' Ernie in the expectation...).

Who knows what instructions the solicitor was given? It's all very well to say 'they should have...' but it's entirely possible the lady in question was adamant that if her dear Elsie died she'd never, ever have another cat, and insisted the provision in the will should be worded as it stands now.

Savvy_Sue

Obviously I don't know how large the estate is, nor how many people it has to be split between, nor whether there are major and minor beneficiaries. 

As executor, you have to follow the terms of the will, BUT in your position I'd be minded to write to the beneficiaries and ask whether anyone is prepared to have their bequest adjusted in order to allow for Ernie's owner to benefit, as you are sure this is what your friend would have wanted. 

(I know, I know, if that's what she would have wanted ...)

If I received such a request I'd be very happy to oblige and suffer a reduction. 

Marcon

Savvy_Sue said:

Obviously I don't know how large the estate is, nor how many people it has to be split between, nor whether there are major and minor beneficiaries. 

As executor, you have to follow the terms of the will, BUT in your position I'd be minded to write to the beneficiaries and ask whether anyone is prepared to have their bequest adjusted in order to allow for Ernie's owner to benefit, as you are sure this is what your friend would have wanted. 

(I know, I know, if that's what she would have wanted ...)

If I received such a request I'd be very happy to oblige and suffer a reduction. 

PollyPainter said:

Other beneficiaries are objecting to awarding the £1,000 to Ernie's new owner - because Elsie is the cat named in the Will.

          

I think given that other beneficiaries have already objected, it's probably making life needlessly difficult for OP to do anything other than administer the will as it now stands. The fuss factor is likely to outweigh any good intentions.

Malthusian

Marcon said:

I think given that other beneficiaries have already objected, it's probably making life needlessly difficult for OP to do anything other than administer the will as it now stands. The fuss factor is likely to outweigh any good intentions.

Depends whether "other beneficiaries object" mean "some beneficiaries object" or "the other beneficiaries object". If it's the former, there is a possibility that those who haven't objected might still be willing to reduce their share. As Theoretica says, you don't need them all to agree.
The OP could send an update to all beneficiaries along the lines of the following:
"You may recall that £1,000 was left in the Will to whoever re-homed [Friend]'s cat Elsie. I have been looking into the status of this bequest given that Elsie passed away and was replaced by Ernie. I have now established that, due to the terms of the Will, the bequest fails, and no monies are due to Ernie's new owner. It may well be that [Friend] would have wished for Ernie's new owner to receive the £1,000, but I am legally obliged to follow the Will as it was written, so the only way that can happen is for one or more beneficiaries to voluntarily reduce their share."
This is a simple factual statement of the legal position; the executor is not asking anyone to give up part of their share or implying that they are morally obliged to.

Keep_pedalling

Adding the cat’s name was a mistake, it should have just said my cat. 

gt568

So what happens to the 1k now?

Savvy_Sue

gt568 said:

So what happens to the 1k now?

Passes back into the estate, probably to (be shared among) the residuary beneficiary/ies, ie those who aren't left anything specific. 

So, if the house goes to Fred, and the sports car goes to Frank, and the money goes to Freda and Fiona, then Fred still gets the house, Frank the sports car, and Freda and Fiona get £1k more than they were expecting.