Shall I split DDs inheritance of baby 2 comes along?

[AliceTheCamelHasFiveHumps]

DD is about to inherit £10,000 from my Dad.

All grandchildren were left the same amount.

We are trying for a second child. It's IVF and we have only one chance. If second child does come along. Do you think I should split DDs inheritance with her?

No it’s illegal and not fair on your DD. It’s sucks you potentially new child will have missed out but you can either save the equivalent or give out of your pot if you’ve inherited.

Both my younger dc didn’t receive money in a similar situation. I didn’t inherit any money in that situation so have saved for my younger ones and when I did receive some inheritance myself I used it to top up the savings so they all now have equal

...you can’t. That would be stealing from your child.

I understand why you would want to but you can't, legally or morally. It's your dd's money left to her.

I'd take it out of your own inheritance

If you do DD1 could sue you for it when she reaches adulthood as you will be stealing something which is legally hers. If she turns into a stroppy teenager do you want to risk that?

Legally, assuming you are in England, you can’t. Forget all the age gaps and moral dilemmas, you just can’t. It belongs to DC1. You could try to even it up using your own money, which would be understandable. But that £10k belongs to DC1 and you have no right to give it away on her behalf.

@Paquerette

How old is your DD? If she's very close in age to your potential new DC it's a bit different to your DD being already teenage for example.

IMO if very close in age, you split the money, but pay into both accounts so they both end up with at least an extra £3,000 each paid in by you by the time they inherit.

If your DD is already teenage, she inherits the full amount, and you set up a separate savings account for your new dc.

the contents of a will are valid at the time of the death. So if the GF has left the money to the named grandchild then it goes to the named grandchild. If the GF left the money to 'the children of.... ' and there is a foetus or newborn then the money will be split between them. If the money goes to the 'children of' and there is only one child (plus a hoped for but as yet unconceived child) then the money goes to the child living at point of death.

But in any case the inheritance has nothing at all to do with the OP. It does not belong to her and it is not hers ti dispose of according to her own wishes.

No you shouldn't. Your dad left that money for the grandchildren he had.

Also legally it is DD's money not yours, so you can't "split" it.

No, it's up to the executors to distribute the money according to your father's wishes, not, for example, according to what he might have done if he had more grandchildren at the time he made the will. And you can't take your daughter's money and give some of it to her sibling.

Absolutely not, it's not your money to carve up.

Didn't you also inherit? Put £10k of that aside for a potential second DC.

My Stepdad's Mum passed last year and had left £1k to each blood grandchild. I'd never even have known but my Stepdad chose to give me £1000 of his own inheritance to bring me in line with the others. That's your only option if you want a future child to have this nest egg too.

@ImInStealthMode

Absolutely not, it's not your money to carve up.

Didn't you also inherit? Put £10k of that aside for a potential second DC.

My Stepdad's Mum passed last year and had left £1k to each blood grandchild. I'd never even have known but my Stepdad chose to give me £1000 of his own inheritance to bring me in line with the others. That's your only option if you want a future child to have this nest egg too.

That's lovely. :)

That's very sweet of your Stepdad, StealthMode

If you feel strongly a subsequent child should also be gifted £10k, then you'll need to give her some of yours.

It's her money and nothing to do with any future children you add to the family.

Of course not.

No. It's her money, not yours.

@changingnames786

Similar happened to my DH and his siblings, 3 of them when the Will was created but eventually 4. I have absolutely no idea of the legality of it all or how it was done but an amount was taken from the elder 3's pots and created a 4th for the youngest child. It was all a bit odd though as each child had a different amount decreasing from eldest to youngest.

If it was me and it was possible, yes I would try to split it.

Not odd really.

I was advised to take into account the kids ages when I was looking at life insurance payouts going to them. I was told that I should think of an amount I wanted them to get at (say) 21. The eldest would get the most as there would be less time to invest it to get to that amount and youngest would get the least as they had more time for the investment to grow. This was all based on the assumption that I passed when they were all under 18. Sounds like thats what your DH's parents did.

To complicate things slightly. Sorry if this is a drip feed.

There was no will. But we know Dad wanted it split between the grandchildren. After all the form filling and the probate people losing paperwork etc, it has finally been released.

So, we know that legally have to be split between me, my sister and brother. And we will do that, to follow the letter of the law. Then we will shuffle the money around into the kids bank accounts so they have the £10k each.

Does this change anything from a legal perspective?

You can't give away what isn't yours, but as others have suggested, the 'right' thing to do IMO is to either save up the equivalent amount for your dc2, or to invest a similar amount for her from what you inherited (if you did).

This is what happened to my dc3, when my parents died. All the Grandchildren had had £1000 invested for them, before she was born, and, with my Dad not being well after she was born, he hadn't got round to doing the same for her, so we did what we knew he would have intended, had he lived longer.

You’ll have to follow the will

If your DD decides she wants to spilt it with her sibling. Then so be it

But legally you can’t.

If there was no will then basically you can do what you like with your share can’t you? It changes it completely. It’s just whether you feel comfortable not following your relatives wishes.

DD is 15m old.

@ImInStealthMode

Absolutely not, it's not your money to carve up.

Didn't you also inherit? Put £10k of that aside for a potential second DC.

My Stepdad's Mum passed last year and had left £1k to each blood grandchild. I'd never even have known but my Stepdad chose to give me £1000 of his own inheritance to bring me in line with the others. That's your only option if you want a future child to have this nest egg too.

My mum did similar for my children as they weren't born when her mum died. Her will had £200 in for each grandchild and great-grandchild. She gave each of them the money they'd have had if they'd been born a bit earlier.

There are 5 living grandchildren inheriting.

Still no. Create an extra pot from your inheritance.