Advice on inheritance for friend with terminally ill DP

[voituredepompier]

Please can someone with knowledge of inheritance help me to navigate through this inheritance situation. This is on behalf of a friend.

90 year old widow owns a house, has 2 children (son and daughter).

The son has terminal cancer. Son lives with partner, they are not married, they have a young child.

Son has not made a will. I presume 90 year old has made a will but even if she hasn’t her estate would be split between her children.

If the son dies before his mother (likely), who will inherit the proceeds from the house sale when the 90 year old dies? Is it just the 90 year old’s daughter or does the son’s share of the inheritance automatically pass onto his child?

If the answer is yes then if the son made a will, could he pass on his share of the house to his partner rather than his daughter if he wanted to?

If the answer to this is no, would this change if they were married?

I know he needs to make a will for other aspects of his finances, but I am not sure if the will would address the situation of who would get the proceeds from the sale of his mother's house or even if marriage would address this.

Thanks for any advice on this that anyone can offer

[cdtaylornats]

I think marriage essentially makes his partner part of the family and as his relict ?(lovely old word) she would inherit half as would daughter. If they were not married inheritance would be half to his sister and half to his daughter. If the daughter in under age then his spouse would control the money until daughters maturity.

I don't think his will would address the proceeds of the sale of his mothers house if he predeceaces her - it would need to be the mothers will.

In my will I leave money to my goddaughter in trust until 21 but up until then her parents can draw on it for her education if needed.

[FanSpamTastic]

It depends on the will of the 90 year old. She could specify in her will that say son and daughter are equal beneficiaries. But if one dies before her then her will could specify that the other becomes sole beneficiary. Or it could say nothing and then would pass down to the granddaughter if the son had not left a will.

[Pufflemum]

I'm a Will writer, so will try to help.

It depends whether the grandmother has a Will and what is in it.

Assuming she does not have a Will and has no spouse, her two children will inherit equally. If her son dies before her his issue will inherit his share regardless of marriage.

If the grandmother dies first then the son dies without a Will - if the couple were married the wife would inherit. If not married the child inherits.

If the grandmother dies first then the son dies but leaves a will naming his partner as beneficiary everything then she would inherit regardless of marriage.

Any money for the child will be held in trust until she is 18 but can be accessed for her education, maintenance or benefit.

If the grandmother has a Will all of this maybe irrelevant as it depends on it's wording. The family could agree to change the Will or the intestacy provision up to two years after her death providing all parties agreed, e.g. If grandmother dies and leaves everything to her surviving child, that person could agree to gift a sum to the child who has lost her father and grandmother.

Does that make sense??

[voituredepompier]

Thankyou very much to all of you for taking the time to reply. I will pass this onto my friend.

[exexpat]

Many people with terminal illnesses decide to marry their long term partners not only to make inheritance issues simpler, but also because widowed spouses can claim other benefits, e.g. widowed parents allowance or if an employer has a death-in-service benefit.