unborn great grandchild

colmel16

My mil recently passed and her will states to "pay the sum of ten thousand pounds to each of my grandchildren as shall be then living and attain the age of 21 years". Since the will was issued 1 great grandchild has been born and 1 is to be born in march. Are the great grandchildren benificiaries or do they need to be mentioned directly?

la531983

Grandchildren are not the same as great grandchildren, surely?

marcia_

colmel16 said:

My mil recently passed and her will states to "pay the sum of ten thousand pounds to each of my grandchildren as shall be then living and attain the age of 21 years". Since the will was issued 1 great grandchild has been born and 1 is to be born in march. Are the great grandchildren benificiaries or do they need to be mentioned directly?

 They are not grandchildren and are not named in the will so will receive nothing 

MyRealNameToo

colmel16 said:

My mil recently passed and her will states to "pay the sum of ten thousand pounds to each of my grandchildren as shall be then living and attain the age of 21 years". Since the will was issued 1 great grandchild has been born and 1 is to be born in march. Are the great grandchildren benificiaries or do they need to be mentioned directly?

You always need to read the full will and not take bits out of context as there can be language that deals with matter like if a grandchild has died but has surviving children of their own etc but as presented no, only the living grandchildren get anything not the great grandchildren. 

Robin9

If they wanted to the grandchildren could some aside for their own children - in memory of great-granny

p00hsticks

colmel16 said:

M"pay the sum of ten thousand pounds to each of my grandchildren as shall be then living and attain the age of 21 years". 

I can see this clause being a real pain for the executor to carry out - presumably they'll have to park a sum of £10k x the number of living grandchildren at the time of the testators death in an account somewhere and dish it out as and when each grandchild reaches 21, and if any die before they reach that age their £10k would need to be distributed according to the rest of the will.... 

MyRealNameToo

p00hsticks said:

colmel16 said:

M"pay the sum of ten thousand pounds to each of my grandchildren as shall be then living and attain the age of 21 years". 

I can see this clause being a real pain for the executor to carry out - presumably they'll have to park a sum of £10k x the number of living grandchildren at the time of the testators death in an account somewhere and dish it out as and when each grandchild reaches 21, and if any die before they reach that age their £10k would need to be distributed according to the rest of the will.... 

Not sure thats the correct reading, there is normally other language used if an inheritance is to be passed down the line if the recipient died before the testator especially when its not named individuals.

I'm not sure on the age element, not come across one worded in such a way. Given there are great grandkids involved too it may be a moot point and they're all over 21 anyway. 

p00hsticks

MyRealNameToo said:

p00hsticks said:

colmel16 said:

M"pay the sum of ten thousand pounds to each of my grandchildren as shall be then living and attain the age of 21 years". 

I can see this clause being a real pain for the executor to carry out - presumably they'll have to park a sum of £10k x the number of living grandchildren at the time of the testators death in an account somewhere and dish it out as and when each grandchild reaches 21, and if any die before they reach that age their £10k would need to be distributed according to the rest of the will.... 

Not sure thats the correct reading, there is normally other language used if an inheritance is to be passed down the line if the recipient died before the testator especially when its not named individuals.

As I read it - in this particular case, in order to inherit, the grandchildren need to be both living at the time of the testators death and to reach the age of 21. Which as I read it means the executor hanging onto the potential bequest for a grandchild who was only one at the time of the grandparents death for 20 years. To me this raises an interesting question about whether the grandchild would be entitled at the age of 21 to just £10k then or also to any interest earned over that 20 year period. And if they died before reaching that age, the bequest would presumably fail and the executor would then have to pass their money on to someone else as determined by the rest of the wording in the will. 

Not one I'd fancy being executor of unless all the grandchildren were already over the age of 21 and so could be given the money straight away (which may be the case given that there also appear to be at least some great grandchildren in the mix). . 

colmel16

There are 8 grandchildren ranging from 17 to 35. The way the statement specifies 21 it makes me wonder if this is more a solicitor suggested age as it seems to occur in other posts i have read. What problems might we encounter if we distributed the money now if necessary getting the younger ones or their parents to sign a consent?

elsien

Under 18 can’t consent or anything; also fairly sure parents can’t vary a will on their behalf.

p00hsticks

colmel16 said:

. What problems might we encounter if we distributed the money now if necessary getting the younger ones or their parents to sign a consent?

The main problem as I see it (and I'm not an expert) would be if any of those under the age of 21 should die before reaching that age, as from the wording you have quoted the bequest would then fail and the money would need to be passed back to the estate ( unless the will then goes on to specify something different to happen in this scenario).

There's nothing to stop the money being passed to those already aged 21 or over straight away. but in my view to avoid any potential problem the executor would need to hang on to the share due to those under that age until they reached 21.