Wording of Will

RAS

In this situation, where he in NOT leaving his money to the next generation, going for a free wills month deal might work but he definitely needs a solicitor. 

Keep_pedalling

WYSPECIAL said:

Thanks for all the replies.

To add more detail:

The estate wouldn't be substantial in the way many on here are. Probably current value of about £200k vast majority of which would be his house.

His daughter is a perfectly healthy adult and has been in a long term relationship for years but her and her partner have always chosen to work as little as possible in low paid jobs and claim as much as they possibly can in means tested benefits. She has a comfortable lifestyle that she is happy with.

Her life and her choice but he doesn't want his hard earned money to simply be wasted over a brief period of a few years of excessive expenditure and then her having problems having to reapply for UC (or whatever it is by then) and explain where her inheritance has gone. There is no animosity between them and leaving her only a small gift wouldn't be to punish her in some way; or an attempt to defraud the state as one reply suggests! He feels leaving her a substantial amount would cause more issues than it solved.

He wants to leave the majority of his estate, in equal shares, to his two grandchildren.

Age wise he is late 50's and in good health, his daughter is late 30's, grandchildren are both young adults and his mother is in robust health and very active in her early 90's.

He currently has no Will and has finally accepted it would be a good idea to have one and would review it when appropriate but wanted something that reflected the current situation.

He is unlikely to part with money to write one and would probably use one of the free services offered.

Executors would be his brother who is 2 years older than him and his cousin who is 12 years younger. 

Frankly I can’t see this as a reason to disinherit his daughter. Presumably they live in rented accommodation so inheriting his house would mean they would no longer have to rent and would be better off and no longer have to claim housing benefit.

What makes him think they have zero savings? The clause would not work if they already have an emergency fund as the inheritance will still take them over the savings limit.

A couple of other issues to consider. Who is he going to appoint as executors? He either needs a professional or people of a younger generation. Not many people would want to administer an estate where an only child is disinherited and I doubt his daughter would be happy doing it.

Based on his age, his grand children are minors so if he meets with an early demise then their inheritance will need to go into trust until they are 18 (16 in Scotland). Would he really want his GC to inherit as such a young age? Unless he daughter is OK with all this, who is he going to appoint as trustees.

This is not a simple will and if he really wants to do this not only does he need a solicitor he needs a STEP qualified one. 

WYSPECIAL

Keep_pedalling said:

WYSPECIAL said:

Thanks for all the replies.

To add more detail:

The estate wouldn't be substantial in the way many on here are. Probably current value of about £200k vast majority of which would be his house.

His daughter is a perfectly healthy adult and has been in a long term relationship for years but her and her partner have always chosen to work as little as possible in low paid jobs and claim as much as they possibly can in means tested benefits. She has a comfortable lifestyle that she is happy with.

Her life and her choice but he doesn't want his hard earned money to simply be wasted over a brief period of a few years of excessive expenditure and then her having problems having to reapply for UC (or whatever it is by then) and explain where her inheritance has gone. There is no animosity between them and leaving her only a small gift wouldn't be to punish her in some way; or an attempt to defraud the state as one reply suggests! He feels leaving her a substantial amount would cause more issues than it solved.

He wants to leave the majority of his estate, in equal shares, to his two grandchildren.

Age wise he is late 50's and in good health, his daughter is late 30's, grandchildren are both young adults and his mother is in robust health and very active in her early 90's.

He currently has no Will and has finally accepted it would be a good idea to have one and would review it when appropriate but wanted something that reflected the current situation.

He is unlikely to part with money to write one and would probably use one of the free services offered.

Executors would be his brother who is 2 years older than him and his cousin who is 12 years younger. 

Frankly I can’t see this as a reason to disinherit his daughter. Presumably they live in rented accommodation so inheriting his house would mean they would no longer have to rent and would be better off and no longer have to claim housing benefit.

What makes him think they have zero savings? The clause would not work if they already have an emergency fund as the inheritance will still take them over the savings limit.

A couple of other issues to consider. Who is he going to appoint as executors? He either needs a professional or people of a younger generation. Not many people would want to administer an estate where an only child is disinherited and I doubt his daughter would be happy doing it.

Based on his age, his grand children are minors so if he meets with an early demise then their inheritance will need to go into trust until they are 18 (16 in Scotland). Would he really want his GC to inherit as such a young age? Unless he daughter is OK with all this, who is he going to appoint as trustees.

This is not a simple will and if he really wants to do this not only does he need a solicitor he needs a STEP qualified one. 

Thanks, as stated the grandchildren are adults and he would be happy for them to inherit so presumably no trustees will be required? We thought it would just be a case of his executors administering the estate as quickly as possible.

Estate is actually worth less than I thought as there is a mortgage on the house so is more likely to be in the region of £100k.

He would prefer to leave this to his grandchildren so they have a substantial deposit if they wish to purchase a house in the future.

House would need to be sold to redeem outstanding mortgage and daughter would be unlikely to ever want the responsibility of house ownership anyway. From what he says she is perfectly happy knowing she can remain in her council property forever.

From what she has told him daughters current savings are a small emergency fund of a couple of £1000. A gift of £6,000 if he died today would reduce her UC but not push her into the over £16k so you get nothing bracket which is his concern.

He isn't trying to plan some elaborate plot to defraud the benefit system but what seemed like it should be a very simple Will to leave a small gift to his daughter that she can actually enjoy and whatever else he has to his grandchildren is far more complicated than we imagined.

I shall try to persuade him to speak to a professional but don't hold out much hope.

Voyager2002

WYSPECIAL said:

Thanks for all the replies.

To add more detail:

The estate wouldn't be substantial in the way many on here are. Probably current value of about £200k vast majority of which would be his house.

His daughter is a perfectly healthy adult and has been in a long term relationship for years but her and her partner have always chosen to work as little as possible in low paid jobs and claim as much as they possibly can in means tested benefits. She has a comfortable lifestyle that she is happy with.

Her life and her choice but he doesn't want his hard earned money to simply be wasted over a brief period of a few years of excessive expenditure and then her having problems having to reapply for UC (or whatever it is by then) and explain where her inheritance has gone. There is no animosity between them and leaving her only a small gift wouldn't be to punish her in some way; or an attempt to defraud the state as one reply suggests! He feels leaving her a substantial amount would cause more issues than it solved.

He wants to leave the majority of his estate, in equal shares, to his two grandchildren.

Age wise he is late 50's and in good health, his daughter is late 30's, grandchildren are both young adults and his mother is in robust health and very active in her early 90's.

He currently has no Will and has finally accepted it would be a good idea to have one and would review it when appropriate but wanted something that reflected the current situation.

He is unlikely to part with money to write one and would probably use one of the free services offered.

Executors would be his brother who is 2 years older than him and his cousin who is 12 years younger. 

Note that the value of a claimant's home does not affect their entitlement to most means-tested benefits. So he could leave his house to his daughter and it could become their new family home, with most of her benefits continuing. He should ask her if this is something that she would like to happen;

It should also be possible to 'earmark' the value of his legacy for a house purchase, so that his daughter and family could buy a suitable property and live in it as claimants.

Keep_pedalling

Sorry I missed the bit about the GC being adults, in which case why not appoint them as executors? 

Section62

WYSPECIAL said:

...
He would prefer to leave this to his grandchildren so they have a substantial deposit if they wish to purchase a house in the future.
...

There's a potential risk here of the grandchildren feeling obliged (or even pressured) to give some of their inheritance to the daughter (their mother) to make up for the fact she got so little.  Obviously I don't know the personalities involved, but from what you describe of her situation I don't think it unfair to imagine a conversation at some point in the future where she says "Grandad gave you everything, the least you could do is give me £1000 to buy ..."

If he really wants to make sure the grandchildren benefit rather than the daughter then he probably needs to construct an arrangement where these decisions are not solely the grandchildren's to make.  Otherwise his legacy to the grandchildren could end up being a lasting rift between them and their mother.

He absolutely needs professional advice.  Or else an acceptance that he can't stop his adult daughter living life the way she chooses - which may well include spending his money after he has gone, in a way he doesn't want.

NedS

Voyager2002 said:

WYSPECIAL said:

Thanks for all the replies.

To add more detail:

The estate wouldn't be substantial in the way many on here are. Probably current value of about £200k vast majority of which would be his house.

His daughter is a perfectly healthy adult and has been in a long term relationship for years but her and her partner have always chosen to work as little as possible in low paid jobs and claim as much as they possibly can in means tested benefits. She has a comfortable lifestyle that she is happy with.

Her life and her choice but he doesn't want his hard earned money to simply be wasted over a brief period of a few years of excessive expenditure and then her having problems having to reapply for UC (or whatever it is by then) and explain where her inheritance has gone. There is no animosity between them and leaving her only a small gift wouldn't be to punish her in some way; or an attempt to defraud the state as one reply suggests! He feels leaving her a substantial amount would cause more issues than it solved.

He wants to leave the majority of his estate, in equal shares, to his two grandchildren.

Age wise he is late 50's and in good health, his daughter is late 30's, grandchildren are both young adults and his mother is in robust health and very active in her early 90's.

He currently has no Will and has finally accepted it would be a good idea to have one and would review it when appropriate but wanted something that reflected the current situation.

He is unlikely to part with money to write one and would probably use one of the free services offered.

Executors would be his brother who is 2 years older than him and his cousin who is 12 years younger. 

Note that the value of a claimant's home does not affect their entitlement to most means-tested benefits. So he could leave his house to his daughter and it could become their new family home, with most of her benefits continuing. He should ask her if this is something that she would like to happen;

It should also be possible to 'earmark' the value of his legacy for a house purchase, so that his daughter and family could buy a suitable property and live in it as claimants.

Unless the house is owned outright or the beneficiary has the means to take over the ownership, this type of thing often causes exactly the type of issue with the benefits system that the OP is trying to avoid.

The daughter is on benefits and presumably would be unable to obtain a mortgage to retain the existing property, or a mortgage if the property were sold and funds "earmarked" as a deposit to purchase another property.

If the beneficiary is not in a financial position to be able to take over the existing property, the inheritance will be deemed as capital and would immediately end any entitlement to means-tested benefits.

lincroft1710

If he lives for another 20 years then presumably the mortgage will be paid off and the estate will be worth a lot more than £100,000. Who knows what the benefits system will be at that time?

Baldytyke88

WYSPECIAL said:

He currently has no Will and has finally accepted it would be a good idea to have one and would review it when appropriate but wanted something that reflected the current situation.

He is unlikely to part with money to write one and would probably use one of the free services offered.

Executors would be his brother who is 2 years older than him and his cousin who is 12 years younger. 

Personally, I don't like leaving money to grandchildren; it should go to the children.

It's very difficult to know how much the estate will be worth, he could have care costs or a family member could die and leave him some money.

I would want to leave some money to those who cared for me in my last decade, but who knows who that will be.

I will be leaving a similar amount, but that amount could vary widely. The wording could be 50% of the estate to x and the remainder to be spent on xx