Should mums children’s new partners be entitled to mums asset?

[Tocken]

Hi. Hope this makes sense. When the sad day arrives (mum is 87) wishes the sale of her home to be divided between her four children. Two children (in their 60’s) are divorced and with new partners, mum has 4 grandchildren from their marriage before they divorced. Should anything happen to her two children she wishes the money to be passed onto the grandchildren and not to their new partners. Mum has asked for my advice but I’m unsure how she should approach this and how this should be set up? Thank you.

She absolutely has to make a will stating this.

I think once she has died and left money to her children, what happens to that money after the deaths of her children is up to her children to decide, if that’s what you’re asking.

She can express her wishes to her children, but she can’t tell them what to do with what is essentially their money. I think if she has concerns that her grandchildren won’t be left anything, she needs to leave something to them directly.

First post nailed it.

She will need a will.
But this is fairly usual, my parent's had this long before I had children, it was to me, or if I was dead, to my direct descendents, or if not it went sideways in the family tree.

But get it legally written down very very clearly.

If you mean what would happen if she outlives her adult children then yes her will can state that her children's share can instead revert to the grandchildren. That's pretty common wording.

If you mean can she stipulate that once her adult children have inherited that the wealth can only be passed on to her grandchildren and not their new partner then no that's not possible.

So my late FIL will basically said money to DH but if he predeceased him to his issue (hence his children) cheap standard co op will

if she wishes to have it once she has died and the money has gone to the children already much trickier

No the first poster is incorrect.
She cannot write a will specifying what happens to assests inherited by her dc. Once the dc receive receive their inheritance they are free to do whatever they like with it.
If you DM wants to guarantee her dgc benefit she can split the inheritance now (change will) and bequeath directly to her dgc as well as her dc. If dgc are minors or if she wants dgc to be older than 18 when they receive funds the assets will need to go into trust till that specified age.

This exactly 💯

This seems entirely standard wording, surely? If a parent outlives one of their children, it would be standard for the deceased child's share to pass to their children (and if they have no children, for a bigger share to go to the remaining children).

It depends on what you mean:

If anything happens to her children BEFORE she dies (or within some small, specific number of days after - I think it might be 30?) then, yes, she can have her will state that the money goes to her grandchildren.

If anything happens to her children AFTER she dies, then, no, she cannot do anything to ensure that it gets passed onto her grandchildren after her child dies (other than leaving the money directly to her grandchildren and skipping over her child).

A will won't be sufficient, she will need a trust.

Will's can be contested, a trust can't be.

Spot on

This. There is no other foolproof way

She can’t really control much once she’s died tbh.

Has she spoken to the two children about this?

In her situation, I’d give the money straight to the grandchildren.

You cannot write a will dictating what happens to money you bequeath after your beneficiaries die!

Just as you can't write a will dictating what your beneficiaries do with money you bequeath them whilst they're still living.

It's obvious we need clarification from the OP 😉

I agree that no way should the money go to new partners. Just get advice from a solicitor re the wording.

Thank you.

Hi thank you for your advice. To clarify. After mums death she would like the money received from the sale of her home to be split equally to her 4 children. Given 2 of her children have new partners, in the event of her children’s passing she would like the funds they have inherited to stay within the blood line and not shared between the partner and their own children who mum has no contact with.

She can't predetermine what happens to her dc inheritance. They can make wills in favour if the dgc but if subsequently married their oh are entitled to it as marital assets.

Unfortunately, if she leaves the money to her 4 children she doesn't get to dictate what happens to it after their deaths. It would be their money to spend or bequeath as they please. It might be better for her to split her estate between the 4 adult children's families.
So if an Adult child has 3 kids then 25% of the estate is divided between the 4 people That way she knows the kids benefited from her estate. If the kids are below 18 the money could go into an account that can't be accessed until they are older.

What everyone else says: once your mum has given the money to her children, she can't control what they do with it. They're free to leave it to the fabled donkey sanctuary if they want.

If she wants the money to go to her bloodline only, SHE has to make this happen by splitting it up in her own will.

She can't control what happens to her house proceeds from beyond the grave.

She needs to create a trust

she would like the funds they have inherited to stay within the blood line and not shared between the partner and their own children who mum has no contact with
@Tocken just stop and think for a moment about how impossible that would be.
Who would track the money to start with? The dc might invest it together with their own savings, or use it to pay off their mortgage or do any manner of other things. Who would determine what part of the deceased dc's estate was inheritance as opposed to their own savings or joint assests with their partners? It's impossible.

If your dm wants money to go to her DGC she has to make them beneficiaries of her will, whether direct or via a trust.