Making a will

pjs493

Spendless said:

pjs493 said:

Spendless said:

We did our wills last year. 1st to each other than 50/50 to our 2 children, on of whom is now married. In the event of one of our kids deaths their share is to go to any children they have (neither currently have any so will was written in anticipation of them having kids). If our  kids die without having children of their own then their share goes to their sibling. The we were asked to consider the 'disaster clause' if all of went at once or even if DH or I was left as 'last man standing'. That took us some weeks to think of because we weren't happy with what the rules of intestacy would do at that point.

I think the rules of intestacy mean that in that situation my estate would go to my parents (if still living) but they don't need the money, then my sister would be next in line (but she doesn't need the money either and would much rather her children were provided for instead of me leaving it all to her). Plus, ultimately anything left to my sister would end up going to her children anyway, unless we're all wiped out in some sort of King Ralph moment in which case I'm sure some distant relative would be around to inherit.

Sorry for your loss. How it was explained to us is that if we all went at the same time  in one disaster, it would be assumed my youngest child had died last and it would be the rules of intestacy for her (her having inherited our estate - she's a student so owns nothing of value herself). That means it would currently go to her 3 grandparents. My FIL is a housebound invalid, who lives with my sis-i-law , he either doesn't need the money or it would go on care home fees. My parents are estranged from my sister, if we all went they wouldn't know what to do with their own estate let alone having ours as well (I went and talked this all through with them when deciding what to do). After that I have a grandmother alive at 98, who wouldn't need the money. Then my sis who is estranged from family and my husband's sis who doesn't need the money. After that it was our nieces and nephew (3), one again who doesn't need the money and the other we don't hear from because they are the children of my estranged sister. This is why it took us a few weeks to think through what we did want to happen instead.     

Sounds like it was quite a complicated situation for you.At the moment my niece and nephew are also minors which is why I thought it would make sense to name them in a 'disaster clause' scenario. We live quite far away from each other so the likelihood of some such disaster taking out every named in my Will would be exceptional.