Child's inheritance - ADVICE NEEDED!

Cooboo

GrumpyDil said:

Who had the rest of the money from the estate? Would it be possible to agree a variation to give her brother the same?

On a separate note you will need to note that I believe this will need to be registered as a trust and in most, if not all cases, she would be entitled to receive the money when she is 18, despite what the will says.

The money was divided equally between the other 3 nephews. Our son is the one left out.  

Cooboo

Albermarle said:

My husband and I have decided not to tell the children about the inheritance yet.

. At present its in her regular bank account?

So you have not told her about it, but £75K is sitting in her bank account??

What am I to do then? Sorry to sound native! She is 10 years old.

Cooboo

poseidon1 said:

xylophone said:

Unless the parents were absolutely sure that this money had "indefeasibly vested" in their daughter,  under no circumstances should it have been deposited in an account in her name, whether as direct account holder or as the beneficiary of a bare trust.

Must admit had overlooked that part of the post.

Seems the OP is overdue a very urgent review of her actions so far. An age 25 vesting age is entirely inconsistent with monies held in the the child's personal name and may already run afoul of HMRC rules if trust taxation in point.

Be interesting to see if the OP chooses to takes any notice of  these responses, and return to update the precise terms of the uncle's will to support what she has done so far.  Certainly there appears to have been little or no advice given when trust funds were handed over to their stewardship.

Your advice would be appreciated - my husband and I have just been given the money by the solicitors we were hardly going to deposit it into our own bank account! I have been give not guidance by the solicitors.

xylophone

Have you read my previous posts and the links therein?

Are you/the executors satisfied that the bequest has indefeasibly vested in your daughter?

What was the exact wording of the will?  Importantly, does it state that the bequest is in favour of your daughter absolutely with no discretionary element or statement to the effect that she is entitled to the money only IF she reaches the age of 25?

If the gift is absolute, then it has indefeasibly vested and she is already the beneficial owner of the funds.

The money should be held in bare trust until she reaches the age of 18 when she will have the right to access and control.

See https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6647817/16-year-old-039-s-inheritance-monies/p1

Read the links in my previous concerning taxation and registration/or not.

xylophone

If you are considering a stocks and shares JISA for your daughter, Fidelity and Hargreaves Lansdown have received favourable mentions.

A multi asset index fund might be worth a look.

https://monevator.com/passive-fund-of-funds-the-rivals/

xylophone

https://www.kentreliance.co.uk/news/help-invest-in-a-child-s-future might be worth a look.

Heedtheadvice

You are asking for advice. No one on this forum can advise but you can get suggestions and information and have done so in spectacular manner.

One thing I would add is that if you want advice ( and it sounds like you really need it) then go back to the solicitor and request advice and actually receive what you need, proper professional advice. It surprises me that you had not apparently been given any so far or maybe you have had a comment about what you need to do and asked if you want help it and not taken it up?

Secondly you also did not answer an earlier pertinent question, effectively "....are you the Executor? " That would put lots of duties and responsibilities on you. If it is the solicitor then he/she has more onerous duties and you should get back to them too.

If you do not have confidence in the solicitor (and them not being Executor) then find another one. There are too many potential pitfalls not to do so, let alone the moral family issues downstream.

 

Alexland

xylophone said:

A multi asset index fund might be worth a look.

Sorry to be pedantic but surely it's either a multi asset or an index fund but not both unless there are indexes covering all the types of asset in the world such including equites, bonds, paperclips, elephants and earwax in proportion to their occurrence.

I guess you mean a multi asset fund that uses index trackers in it's asset allocation.

poseidon1

Cooboo said:

poseidon1 said:

xylophone said:

Unless the parents were absolutely sure that this money had "indefeasibly vested" in their daughter,  under no circumstances should it have been deposited in an account in her name, whether as direct account holder or as the beneficiary of a bare trust.

Must admit had overlooked that part of the post.

Seems the OP is overdue a very urgent review of her actions so far. An age 25 vesting age is entirely inconsistent with monies held in the the child's personal name and may already run afoul of HMRC rules if trust taxation in point.

Be interesting to see if the OP chooses to takes any notice of  these responses, and return to update the precise terms of the uncle's will to support what she has done so far.  Certainly there appears to have been little or no advice given when trust funds were handed over to their stewardship.

Your advice would be appreciated - my husband and I have just been given the money by the solicitors we were hardly going to deposit it into our own bank account! I have been give not guidance by the solicitors.

I note that your child in addition to three other Nephews apparently received £75k each equally, presumably all subject to the contingent age 25 requirement?

If you have had sight of the actual will, did it state what happens if any of the children concerned died before age 25, does their share go to the survivors?

Some posters have leapfrogged into discussing investment matters, without addressing the above questions, but note @Xylophone's post asking whether your daughter does in fact have an 'indefeasible vested' interest in her 1/4 share.

If the terms of the uncle's gift is £300k shared amongst the 4 children, subject to each  surviving age 25 with gift over to survivors in the event of prior death,  then as a matter of trust law there is just one registrable trust fund (not 4).  This may be mitigated if any of the Nephews have already attained 25 and therefore already entitled to their 1/4 share, but they could still retain a contingent interest in the trust monies of younger cousins/siblings.

To clarify this question, please provide the exact wording of the clause of the uncle's  will gifting the £300k to the children. It would also be helpful to know if the Uncle's estate was liable to IHT.

Need to establish whether due to ignorance, the solicitor who handled the estate may  have sent you  (and others)  down an incorrect path.

xylophone

• Alexland said:

  » show previous quotes

  Sorry to be pedantic but surely it's either a multi asset or an index fund but not both unless there are indexes covering all the types of asset in the world such including equites, bonds, paperclips, elephants and earwax in proportion to their occurrence.
  
  I guess you mean a multi asset fund that uses index trackers in it's asset allocation.
  

   Sorry to be pedantic, but correct in the first sentence (it is) but not in the second..... possessive of "it" is its. 
  
   But yes, you are quite right, I should have written multi asset/index tracker funds and included link to https://monevator.com/low-cost-index-trackers/
  
  for completeness.
  
  The  monevator multi asset article linked in my post includes a chart  showing funds  which use index trackers in their asset allocation.