I've written a will today, what if DC don't survive us?

[FinnyStory]

Straightforward mirror wills , everything to DH, then to DC.

DC are young adults, still living at home with no offspring. Obviously that can change but atm, the prospect of us all dying together in a road accident, say, and there being no further offspring doesn't seem that remote.

I've made a decision and won't change it now but what have you done for that eventuality? DH and I both have living parents and one sister, each with children.

No cousins or anything that I would recognise if I saw them in the street.

DH is NC with his parents and sister. My parents are wealthy have no need for anything extra. My sister is comfortable and has very wealthy in laws (far more so than my parents) so her and her DC already stand to do very well. It's not that I want to write them out, it's that leaving them more seems unecessary.

So it's a charity, although of course we're taking about an eventuality that we all hope will never happen.

What have you provided for if your DC do not survive you?

SydneyCarton
I remember that, the daughters went to court for a lengthy battle over it. Probably spending a lot of the money on solicitors fees in the process!

@Horsemad

What if you pre decease your DH and he remarries - is there provision for your DC to inherit your share?

Quite often we read on here about where a bereaved DH has inherited, then remarried and the step mother/her DC have ended up inheriting the house/money etc after his death.

This is why I am leaving everything to my DC. Hubby has a big fat pension so can take care of himself. Children can choose to leave him in the house if they want. I’ve seen too many children miss out because one parent died and the other re-married. There is also the chance that, if you leave everything to hubby and he goes into care, it will be used to pay for his care and your kids get nothing. No, leave it to your DC.

All the monies in my name (much more than DH due to inheritance) plus half the house goes to my brothers DS, all DH monies plus half the house goes to his sisters DC. Nothing to PIL who are loaded and don't spend anyway, nothing to siblings.

My will leaves everything to my DD, if she's not alive then her children inherit.
My sister is executer so if DD has no children my sister can divide my assets as she sees fit (fairly), I do have a letter of wishes with my will at the solicitors, my sister has a copy so she knows what I want, money equally split between whoever us left and keepsake to different family members.
Tbh I wont be around to care!

Ours are mirror wills and if no living DC it goes to our siblings with it being in trust with one of our parents if they haven't turned 18 yet.

My family are wealthy and in no need of our money. My sister and her dh are the executers because they more than are capable of negotiating their way around institutional red tape. Dh's sisters struggle financially (certainly couldn't cope with being executers) - but they will get it all - that seemed the fairest way to do it.

The savings are our pension. If I leave everything to DC, DH has no home and much reduced income. I know it's not perfect but I'm happy it's OK

DH has a DD and we have a DD together.
Our assets are split 50/50 which if both of us died, would mean our DD gets 75% of the total and DSD gets 25%. If DD died with us then DSD gets everything. If DSD died with us DD gets everything.

If DD and DSD died with us then 50% is split between DH’s siblings and 50% is split between my siblings.

We actually need to revise our wills because if we were to die we have DH’s sister named as guardian for DD. But DSD is now an adult and settled down so she may be willing to do it.

@FinnyStory, you could have the will written so your share of the house etc goes to your DC but your DH has a right to continue living in the house. That way, he won't be made homeless but should he remarry, he won't have inheritedand subsequently bequeathed your share to a future wife.

@FinnyStory

The savings are our pension. If I leave everything to DC, DH has no home and much reduced income. I know it's not perfect but I'm happy it's OK

My understanding is that you don't own everything - you are married and therefore you own half of everything - you can chose to give half your share to your dcs but you can't leave everything to your dcs.

I know we went through it all. There are tax implications for leaving a life interest in the property and I don't want DH not to have access to all the savings.

Each other, then 80% DD /20% Grandson ( actually any Gkids but DD is unlikely to have another) .
There is a ‘catastrophe’ clause that means if all of us die before inheriting, DH’s Nephews get it all.
I wanted to ring fence Grandson’s inheritance as DD has 2 step-children so she could split her 80% any way she wants to but DGS will always have a nice amount.

I don’t know what would happen if me and my dc died together, their df already dead. No nieces / nephews etc.
I think I’d rather the state got it than the 1 member of family left that we are permanently estranged from

Goes to parents, and if they are not alive DM's share goes to my nephews and PIL's share goes to BIL (no children).

This has been interesting as we really need to do our wills. For those who have left the estate to siblings if you and children die together, have you done that equally or half to each 'side' of the family? It only matters if you have different numbers of siblings but I sway between which way is most fair.

You can have it written in such a way that if one of you dies, the estate passes to the surviving spouse but can't then be left to someone who is not the child, like a second wife. Mirror wills can be problematic so take some advice on this.

In the doomsday scenario we have named our siblings equally.

Re: your well off sister. I don't think you should make assumptions like this. If they divorce she could find herself with a lot less money, and there may also be issues around the wealth you're not aware of. For example my siblings probably assume I'm rich, but I'm married to a DH from a rich family, and most of the assets (big inherited assets), besides our main house and savings, are abroad, and in his name and will go directly to the children. Also in this family situation, most of the decision making power could conceivably be with the richer spouse even if it's equal in their day to day lives. It's fine if both spouses arrive in the marriage with similar assets, but if it's a disparity it can lead to issues.

We didn't leave to parents on the basis that it would increase inheritance tax issues on his side, and on mine would probably also get eaten up by care costs for my parents, so it made more sense to leave directly to siblings.

One thing to bear in mind is that I believe if you all die at the same time under inheritance law it is assumed that the oldest died first and the youngest last.