My kids have an inheritance they can’t access until they’re 30. Is there anything they can do to move it back?

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My mum left both my teenage kids 40k each.

The will stipulates it should remain in trust until they’re 30.

The executor of the will is her husband (not my dad) and I barely know him. He’s not told me anything about how it is invested and I had to get a copy of the will myself to see what was what because it all felt a bit awkward when he was in bits to talk about money. I’m not really in contact with him - there’s no problem, I’ve just only met him a few times and he lives hundreds of miles away.

Does he have the right to release it early? Would it be rude/wrong/unethical to ask him to overrule what my mum stipulated? Even a few thousand of it would help them so much with university, but asking a stranger for money feels wrong, even if it is theirs. I would love to know if it’s invested - with the time frame I’d hope it was all in stocks with very little bonds and cash, but it’s none of my business. Should they just leave it?

I don't think you should ask for the money now. Your dm wrote her will this way for a reason.

To me it suggests a solicitor was involved and suggested 30 which is pretty much a default age.

However discretion is often put there for a reason. I would suspect the OP has a better feel for her DM's wishes than any of us - education is a common reasonable use - not all parents have the money to fund higher education.

That said - I'd check the status of student loans costs at the time of accessing higher ed. Depending on the rules at the time it may not be cost effective to use money from a trust.

Totally agree with this. I know a couple of men who blew their thousands of inherited pounds on nights out.

I’d want to know it was being sensibly invested somewhere. It could turn into £50k in 10 years. You can get 4.2% in a nationwide accounting right now, a bond. That could be an additional what £4k over 3 years?

I don't think asking if the money can be released early to help with university maintenance is being accusatory as to how it has been kept in trust, if approached in the right way.

If it is not outing in any way, let us know how you get on OP.

As I read the OPs posts about uni expenses and two children going at the same time I initially thought “of course they need it sooner ” but actually I think I’d check it’s all in order and definitely safe and then let the students borrow as much as possible alongside reasonable working hours (science courses often have a lot of contact hours limiting work availability). They’ll end up in debt but with the inheritance safe and coming that’s not the same worry and they can use it to clear any residual debt that might affect mortgages etc then.

So you are wanting this money to save yourself having to help out? That's how this reads. They use this money instead of you paying out. If they can't afford to live away at uni they need to live at home and commute. My brother and sister did this, they lived in 1st year and then moved home in second and third year. I lived away the entire time and worked, although I did a placement year working in 3rd year and lived back home during this and saved my money.

There's other ways around not being able to afford it.

My mother left a modest sum to her son (age11) held in trust till he was 25. She had left written instructions explaining that was to prevent his wealthy, greedy crook father getting his hands on it or forcing the child to hand it over.

Absolutely predictably Stepfather contested the age clause with the Executor, on fake grounds of poverty which only proved what a lying crook he was, and why the money had to be protected from him. He lost.
The Executor rightly upheld the Will and my brother got his inheritance at 25, exactly as intended.

Hi OP, you need proper legal advice, so don't rely on what I am saying (and I haven't read the full thread), but I am pretty sure if all the beneficiaries of the trust are over 18, and agree, they can demand that the trust is terminated and the money given to them:

lewisnedas.co.uk/newsroom/blog/wills-trusts-and-probate-law/how-to-terminate-a-trust.html

like precious posters - uni loans etc are cheap and easy to get. House deposits are not so I would rather my kids had some money for a house deposit and noawdays 30 is probably a good age -

When you came up with figure of £4k op, did you actually go through and calculate an actual budget with your dc how much they’d need? Down to the fine detail? Not saying £4k top up isn’t right, but once you break it down it may be less, or god forbid more. But breaking it down with dc there helps set a expectation of what you will pay for and what you won’t eg food budget to include alcohol or not?

also, don’t forget that part of that £4k you need to find is already what you are covering whilst you do is at home now …I assume you pay for their food, their mobile, clothes etc even if they have a part time job to top up their allowance from you? If you actually sit down and cost out what child is currently costing you vs what it’ll cost during term time and then assuming they’re back for holidays , you will find it is not £4k extra - it’ll be offset by what you’d have spent previously

it is scary …I remember that…but it is more manageable in terms of absolute increase in outgoings than you may think

Also, depending on what degree they choose to do , working part time during term may simply not be possible without causing them some real problems. Most science degrees require pretty full time attendance during day hours, and a lot of study in evenings. Some arts courses may have more flexibility to work ..it depends. Focusing the dc on getting work during vacation periods is a far better way , but you need to agree whether that’s to top up basic maintenance or buy extras like booze, clubbing, tech stuff, gaming, music etc.

I agree with other posters - don’t use inheritance to cover uni costs. Keeping their money tight during uni years is not an issue, encourages them to work for themselves, and to realise money doesn’t grow on trees. The student loan is a tax really now, and one that most graduates still won’t ever pay off in full.

My granddads will stipulated that I would receive my money at 25. I wanted it at 20 to buy a flat and my mum asked the executor who released it for me. Not sure of the details tbh as I wasn’t that fussed (my parents would have given me the money if the will money hadn’t been released)

Personally I think 30 is a very good age to receive that amount of cash. The average first time buyer in the UK is aged 34.

Is that a crime against mumsnet, or mumsy? I comment as I go, some threads are too long to RTFT🤐

You and your children definitely need more information. You should all have had copies of the will when probate was completed. Also information on any trusts.

Completely going against the grain, I think 30 is really quite old to receive an inheritance. I owned a house at 21 and got married at 23. Had my first child at 30. As did all my friends. So by that age you have really missed the boat and lost a lot of opportunity to use such an asset. My DD's recently got a fairly large amount form my DM, in cash, at 18 and 24. They have invested it. So I don't really recognise the default "too young to cope" argument.

An executor has a responsibility to contact all beneficiaries of the deceased's will and provide details and full accounts.

I would worry about why this hasn't been done. It would not inspire confidence that the executor is following the will. He may have taken the money for himself.

The wishes of the deceased do not have to be carried out if all are in agreement.

Contact the executor on behalf of the beneficiaries, asking for a copy of the will. Go from there.

Any problems, contact the probate office.

Both of them want to study engineering, the eldest has settled on aeronautical - I don’t know if that’s going to give them much time to work or not. Something to look into. They’re both doing4 STEM A levels and the work load since September has made eldests Saturday job tricky to manage. But she’s saving and studying so hard. I’ve not told them they’ve got the money coming. There is no way in hell I’d let them get at more than 10% of it, and I’d expect it to go to a roof over their heads, beer money comes from stacking shelves, not my mum’s savings.

Generally even if money is held in trust it can be released for specific purposes with executors permission eg £5k per year for university costs

I have not read the replies but I have read your comments OP.
The role of executor and trustee are different. Executor sorts the will out. So if there are no trusts he is finished.
Trustee sorts the trust out.
They are different roles but it is very common for them to be the same person. I would say about 90% are the same.
Generally there is also a professional trustee because it is unwise to have only one trustee (in case he dies, you would have to go to court)
Often in a trust like this which is set up by grandparents there is a right to the income at a specific age (generally 25) and capital when you reach another age (typically 30)
Usually, but not always, the trustees have the discretion to appoint either income or capital at any age. So if times are tough children can get at it.
The key word therefore is discretion. They can do what they like.
It is good from the point of view of access to University finance or state benefits. Because there is no absolute entitlement to income, state benefits and university finance are not reduced.
Both you and your children do have the right to ask for the accounts of the trust so that you can see what has been done with the money.
I would first of all find out who the professional trustee is if you don’t feel comfortable asking him. It is a perfectly reasonable and common request. It happens all of the time.

I agree you should find out details of the trusts.

I don’t think funding university is necessarily a poor use of money, some unis are more expensive than can really be covered on the loans and a job. Studies can suffer and kids do drop out because of the money pressures.

But I would point out you are thinking about asking for the money to cover the part of the maintenance that you as parents are really supposed to cover. While there’s no legal obligation, it is intended that parents fund their children’s university education to some extent. That’s why maintenance is based on parents’ income.

The money should be in a Trust/s that they cannot access until they are 30. The Trustees can release the money earlier if they feel that the reason is good enough.

For example, my estate is left to DD, currently 14yo. I think my will says in Trust until she is 25, but the solicitor confirmed that if she wanted money to buy a car, or support through Uni, or to buy a house, before she reached that age, then the Trustees could release it if they are satisfied that it is for good purposes.

The age is stipulated so that if anything happened to me while she is young, she doesn't reach 18, get access to the money and then blow the lot on Funko Pops .

You need to contact him to get the details of the Trust, find out who the Trustees are, and take it from there.

I think I need to start with the solicitors that drew up the will. I’ve never had anything like this to deal with. I feel rude even asking what he’s done with it - feel like I’m being accusatory or something.

Unless they were the executors (i.e.in charge of distributing the estate in accordance with the will) they will just go back to the executor (your mum’s widow) with any query. And then he’ll know you’re querying it anyway, which is potentially more embarrassing than just asking outright. So you might as well deal with him from the outset.

Say what you’ve said here - that as DC are coming up to university age you are looking at finances and you believe there is money in trust for them from their grandmother. Could he send details of the trust, please?

Surely £80,000 is worth getting over being thought of as ‘rude’?

If your DCs are late teens and DM's husband is late 60s, there's a reasonable chance that he will not survive until payout time. So it's really important to understand how these trusts have been set up and who are the trustees.

If the trustees are the solicitors then you may have a problem with the value being eaten up by fees. Also you should know how it is invested, that amount over 14+ years should have a proper investment strategy with a financial adviser, not just in a bank at 0.0% interest.

You never know, unless you ask, DM's husband may be amenable to you becoming a trustee if he is feeling too much responsibility for something that is rather remote from his life. After 4 years it's a reasonable time to be in direct touch with him.

I think the advice to follow DMs wishes and wait until 30 is probably good, even if the trust allows earlier access. A few thousand here and there, especially in the earlier years, will soon eat into it and not be replaceable by investment growth. Definitely not a good idea to use it to try to avoid student loans.

Our grandmother left us money when we were 18. One sibling squandered the whole lot before she was 20, the others and I saved ours to get houses when we were in our 30s. It’s better to wait. That chunk should not be frittered away on small things but only be available once they have established careers and need to get on the property ladder.

It’s reasonable to ask what the investment policy is in the meantime although perhaps wait until your mums partner is more able to deal with it.

Sorry for your loss.

Only read your posts OP so apologies if I am repeating. You say your mum met her husband when he was in his 60s so I am assuming he is in his 60s or 70s now? Something to consider if you are not in daily/regular contact is what happens when he dies? Will you be notified and by who? Is there sufficient paperwork in place to transfer the DCs money (well control of it) to you until they reach 30?

May be worth getting legal advice to get everything in place. If he is decent then he shouldn’t be concerned or upset about you asking for paperwork and details.

If you wanted to you could say you and your DH are updating your own wills and your solicitor has asked to see paperwork relating to the DCs inheritance