unborn great grandchild

Marcon

colmel16 said:

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?

Possibly none, possibly plenty! You'd be well advised to get some advice from a professional who has seen the whole will.

PeterE17

p00hsticks said:

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. 

What would happen if the executor died in the 20-year waiting period? How would the executor's executor know what to do? 

MobileSaver

p00hsticks said:

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?

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. 

Depending on who the residual beneficiaries are, the simplest option may be to see if they'll agree a Deed of Variation that gives all grandchildren £10k now even if they're not yet 21.

Keep_pedalling

colmel16 said:

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?

It seems that if one of the grandchildren does not survive until they are 21 their bequest falls back to the estate and it will be the residual beneficiaries who would benefit not the other GC who have all been left a specific sum of money.

If the residual beneficiaries are happy to forgo a possible windfall on the death of a grand child then there should be no comeback. We are talking quite small amounts of money here so although professional advice would be helpful it is going to be expensive for the amount concerned.

Personally if I was the executor I would consult with the residual beneficiaries and if they were OK with it I would distribute the bequests, just holding back the bequest for the 17 year old until their 18th birthday. If you do hold it back until they are 21 the money will need to be held in trust, which.is a total pain for such a small amount of money. 

silvercar

I’m sure if one of the grandchildren failed to reach 21, their parents and aunts and uncles would have more on their mind than worrying about £10k going back to the estate for distribution. I’d just ask the residual beneficiaries to agree to distribute ahead of time, with the money set aside for those under 18 to receive when they are 18. In similar circumstances, all the residual beneficiaries were happy for it to be put in an account that the parent had control over.