Understanding a Will

hooverwizard

My father-in-law passed away three years ago. The estate went through probate. The executor has never acted on the instructions in the will. Can you see any reason why the clause above should not have been paid? The only other beneficial is his wife (the executor).

DE_612183

no, basically says each grandchild gets £10k, or if they pass first that £10k passes to their children and is split depending on how many there are
 

MyRealNameToo

Possibly, would need to see the rest of the clauses

poseidon1

hooverwizard said:

My father-in-law passed away three years ago. The estate went through probate. The executor has never acted on the instructions in the will. Can you see any reason why the clause above should not have been paid? The only other beneficial is his wife (the executor).

If you are saying the mother in law has refused to comply with the requirement to pay the legacies to to each of the grandchildren, the only valid reasons likely to be :

1 ) The deceased left no cash of their own to pay the legacies ( possible if all bank accounts were jointly owned).

2) Deceased left no cash at all and there were no other assets available to be sold to meet the legacies other than the house passing to the wife as joint surviving owner.

Other than the above, the wife could have decided she does not wish to honour her husband's wishes either because she feels it leaves her insufficient money for her to live on, or ( assuming there is a large amount of cash) , she simply chooses not to pay for them for reasons she has chosen not to share with anyone.

If the grandchildren are adults they can of course jointly seek  legal advice to see if legal action to recover would be appropriate. If minors, their parents would have to decide on their behalf whether to legally pursue the MIL.

I assume by asking the question here, you have not yet approached the wife direct for an explanation?

Keep_pedalling

Get your spouse to ask their mother why they have not followed the terms of the will. 

Flugelhorn

I think most likely that he didn't actually have £10K of his own money  for each grandchild, probably all jointly owned and hence went to widow

Keep_pedalling

Flugelhorn said:

I think most likely that he didn't actually have £10K of his own money  for each grandchild, probably all jointly owned and hence went to widow

If that is the case then the executor should have informed the beneficiaries that this was the case not just say nothing. 

Flugelhorn

Keep_pedalling said:

Flugelhorn said:

I think most likely that he didn't actually have £10K of his own money  for each grandchild, probably all jointly owned and hence went to widow

If that is the case then the executor should have informed the beneficiaries that this was the case not just say nothing. 

definitely - I wonder if the exec sought any advice at all? 

would it be possible that there is another clause somewhere that leavse all to wife, but if she has predeceased him then estate is shared amongst children with grandchildren getting 10k each? wife may have similar clause in her will