What to do with money left to grandchildren who aren’t old enough yet

Colliedog1

Hi I wondered if anyone had any advice please regarding my Fathers will who sadly passed away two months ago.

He left some money to his grandchildren and stipulated in his will they had to be 25 years old before they received it. One is 20 years old and one is 23 years old now.

My Father was going to change his will last year to take the age part out of it but was too ill to do this.

I am the executor of the estate and I am not sure what to do with the money for the children. Do I put it into a separate account for the next few years and if so what happens to the tax on the interest which I would obviously have to pay myself as I assume the accounts would be in my name.

Is there anyway I can legally pass it on to the children now.

If anyone has any advice I would appreciate it please.

Keep_pedalling

It is very likely you can give it to them now but it depends on the wording of the will. In most cases these are nearly wishes that are not enforceable.

Can you give us the exact wording (redacting any personal details) of the will regarding these bequests?

Colliedog1

Thank you for your reply.

The exact wording on the will is

I give the sum of £ to each of my grandchildren upon attaining the age of 25 years old for their own use absolutely.

Thank you for your help.

Keep_pedalling

Unfortunate wording I think

My understanding of that is that they only get this fixed sum on reaching 25 which leaves you with a major headache of what to do with the money in the meantime because I believe it needs to be held in trust and that any income earned on it goes the the residual beneficiaries not the grandchildren who only get a fixed sum.

poseidon1 is probably the best person to coment on this.

Who are the residuary beneficiaries?

Colliedog1

That is what I thought that it could become a headache.

It is not like they are children now. They are adults at that age. As I say he wanted to change the age part of it and got as far as getting the solicitor to do a codicil to change that bit but never got to sign it because of illness.

The residual beneficiaries are myself and my Mother.

Thank you for your help

Keep_pedalling

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82008033#Comment_82008033

If you and your mother in full agreement then this should be easily solvable by the pair of you making a deed of variation. Did you require probate?

Flugelhorn

going to be easier to agree with mum to give the grandchildren the money now

poseidon1

A some what unfortunate wording in that in the event any of the grandchildren do not survive the contingent age 25, their legacy (together with any accumulated income) seems to fall back into estate residue.

However, that may present an opportunity for the residual legatees (you and your mother ) to amend the will by deed of variation as follows:

1. Amend the vesting date to age 18 absolutely.
2. Terminate your residual rights to the grandchildren's legacies in the event they fail to survive to age 18, and provide that their legacy fall to be distributed in accordance with their own will or intestacy and any intermediate income accrues to them absolutely .

If your lawyer agrees a DOV along those lines is possible, then the two older children (and any others over 18 ) take their legacies immediately, whilst for the minors under 18 their legacies are held on bare trusts for their absolute benefit until the reduced vesting age.

Of course you and your mother must be comfortable that the younger children will have access to their legacies far earlier than originally contemplated, but if your father was going to remove the age 25 condition in any event, this suggested amendment seems in accordance with his unfulfilled wishes.

Colliedog1

Thank you all for your replies. Both my Mother and myself are happy for the kids to have the money now. There is only two kids. They are my Niece and Nephew and as I said they are 20 and 23 so a DOV to amend the age to 18 should sort it out.

Yes I needed probate which I did myself and got the probate certificates within 10 days of applying for it.

I have to speak to the solicitor about changing our wills now and also about changing the deeds at the land registry because I’m not sure I could do that myself so I can speak to the solicitor about the DOV then.

Savvy_Sue

You may not need to change the deeds at the Land Registry: that could potentially wait until the property is sold, either now or at some point in the future. What's the current registration, and what's the intention for the house?

Colliedog1

The house was owned by myself, Mum and Dad in three equal shares as tenants in common. It will now be half share for my Mum and myself as tenants in common.

There is no intention to sell the house at all. Do I need to change the deeds or wait until there is only one of us left whichever one that is.

Thank you for your reply