Under 25’s beneficiary of a will

doodling

Hi,

The other way of looking at this is to compare the size of the bequest with your own wealth and willingness to simplify your life, albeit at a risk to you.

If each beneficiary gets £1000 and that isn't a big sum to you then you could simply distribute the funds now, with the risk that you might need to find £1000 to distribute to the others if one of them dies before they reach 25.

On the other hand, if they each get £100,000 then that might not be so feasible.

Of course, if all beneficiaries who might benefit from the trust implied by the will agree, then it might be possible to do a Deed of Variation to give the beneficiaries the money.  Note that all beneficiaries of the will might need to agree - e.g. if the will states that the money goes somewhere else if none of the beneficiaries reach 25 then that beneficiary also needs to agree.

As noted by others, assume that anyone under 18 cannot agree to anything other than what is currently required by the will.

You need to discuss the options with a STEP qualified solicitor.  It is possible le that you may be lumbered with a trust that will need ongoing administration (e.g. tax returns every year) until the last beneficiary reaches 25.

As a general point, putting a trust of this nature in a will gives executors a load of grief - anyone considering it needs to be confident that the exexutor is happy dealing with it - some executors wouldn't choose to take the role on if they had to administer a trust for several years.

poseidon1

silvercar said:

Kidsgrandkids said:

I’m the executor of a will which stipulates that the beneficiaries can only have their share when they reach 25. Do I need to set up a trust? If so how and where can I save the money on their behalf?  I obviously want to keep charges to a minimum as it isn’t a large amount of money but equally don’t want it to affect my personal tax free interest. 

We had similar clause and the over 18s got the money straight away, the under 18s money was put in a savings account which didn’t mature until they were 18 and the account entrusted to their parents. My parent and uncles reasoned that it wasn’t a large amount of money, so if someone sadly passed between the age of 18 and 25, the family would have more concerns than worrying about a redistribution of the small amount. If anyone did want their share of a redistribution either the costs of pursuing would be off putting for a small amount or if push came to shove, others would chip in to cover the shortfall.

What was of greater concern was that the great grandchildren were also given a fixed amount. The problem was that they hadn’t all been born at the time of death, in fact one was born within a few months of the death, so missed out.

Had the will merely stated grandchildren to receive their share at 25 and if they die before that age their share to pass via their own will or intestacy , then no problem accelerating their entitlement at age 18 - ie no harm done in that scenario since the deceased's monies are legally deployed within their own immediate family in the event of  premature death, be it before or after age 18. 

Problem is the utterly misguided requirement that on death before 25, a beneficiary's share passes to the survivors in equal shares.  This gives rise to all the nonsensical trust complications I mentioned , especially in circumstances where I am certain formal trusts were never  intended. A case of sloppy  Wills drafting which hopefully others can learn from.