What are we meant to do with monetary bequest for DD age 10?

[chopchopchop]

FIL has died and has left a substantial amount of money to DD, a five figure sum. There are no conditions or trust set up in the will and I'd really appreciate some advice. I've got no idea what the law is on how we are meant to administer it for her and can't seem to find anything online.

So are there any rules as to how it should be kept? Or anything else i need to know?

[ajandjjmum]

Premium bonds - we get more prizes than interest on any account these days!

[MrsBertBibby]

Was the will drawn up by a professional? There are statutory trust terms that apply in default, sometimes these are varied in a professionally drafted will.

[Allthebestnamesareused]

Either set up an ISA and pay in each year but as said above keep rest in Premium Bonds for time being or for all the time.

You can have £50K I think per person in Premium Bonds. We had some money set aside to pay something else for 3-4 months and won loads of prizes because the bonds were blocked together (in numerical order). Far higher than any interest we'd have earned. Obviously you may not win but then again you may get the jackpot.

[chopchopchop]

Thanks everyone - I am less worried about investing it and more want to know whether there are any legal stipulations about how it has to be looked after and what it can be used for.

MrsBert The will was drawn up by a professional but there's no stipulations about trust or anything, she's just a beneficiary along with the rest (her cousins are adults, and so I think she was just added in when she came along, hence the absence of any considerations like that). Where would I find the statutory trust terms?

[MrsBertBibby]

It's not my area, and you really need to get proper advice, the primary legislation is here

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo5/15-16/19

You're looking at s31 & 32 in particular, but if the death was more than a year or so ago, the rules are different (law changed in 2014) so you really should see a probate solicitor for a proper outline of what you can and can't do.

[chopchopchop]

Thank you. And yes, we will see a probate solicitor, but I wanted to get my head round it a bit so that I knew what sort of questions to ask!

[kath6144]

Op, my DC were beneficiaries 2yrs ago in a cousins will, almost 6 figures.

When the final payment was made in Feb, DD (now 16.5) was the only underage beneficiary so we were asked by solicitors to take control of the money.

The solicitors (who were executors thus trustees by default) met with us and DD and made sure she was happy for us to control it. He said the money had to be transferred from them into a trustee account, but after that we could do what we wanted with it even giving DD access if we wanted to before 18.

He didn't stipulate any regulations we specifically must meet, but I am making sure I keep accounts of the money, where it is, how much in each account, etc. Just make sure everything you do is transparent.

Some was and still is in NS&I, which pays monthly interest - the interest payments and the rest are in a high interest account, from which we drip feed monthly into a Junior stocks and shares ISA (which she already had).