To.ask if any solicitors on here could help me with understanding wording of a will ? I did ring the solicitors but they are now closed for good .

[Tiddleandplonk]

My dear dad made a will which says he gives all his money to my step mum
And if she dies within 30 days of the will ... Which she hasnt...he gives the below to so and so..
My df stated as part of this that when my dc get to 21 years of age they should be given 10k each. .
Does this mean it was his wishws anyway.. or only if my step mum died in 30 days of the will.? Is it a way of saying he wanted them to have the money at 21.
?
As the solicitor in question is closed down
am not sure who to ask to clarify . Thank you.

Huge hugs op. Has your dd heard of the govt saving scheme where the govt match the money put in

Thank you all. And also for kind recognition of the emotional aspect.
We did ask for a bit of help for something for one of the dc as we are support but struggle.. was told .. " no avaliable funds".
They own and have sold two detatched properties. Go ( usually ) places like india, peru) .

A dependant can make a claim against the estate even if they were not named in the will, so you may want to see a solicitor on this, but it would likely be costly, time consuming and turn quite acrimonious, with no guarantee that would you get anything.

@Horizons83

A dependant can make a claim against the estate even if they were not named in the will, so you may want to see a solicitor on this, but it would likely be costly, time consuming and turn quite acrimonious, with no guarantee that would you get anything.

Grandchildren aren’t dependants. Honestly, it’s a very clear will.

I’m sorry but that’s very clear to me too.

It’s if the wife lives she gets it all. Case closed. End of.

If she dies within thirty days then she doesn’t inherit anything and it is split as per the following clauses. Ie ten grand each to the grandkids etc.

@NoSquirrels But children are dependants, so there’s nothing to stop the OP making a claim.

But children are dependants, so there’s nothing to stop the OP making a claim

They aren't dependants of the deceased, unless he had been paying for school fees/living expenses for them during his life.

[quote Horizons83]@NoSquirrels But children are dependants, so there’s nothing to stop the OP making a claim.[/quote]
The ‘children’ named in this particular will are the deceased’s grandchildren. They were not his dependants - they are the dependants of the OP.
To be a ‘dependant’ in terms of a claim on an estate, you need to have been supported by the deceased in a meaningful way such that you’d suffer hardship by not being included.

Almost adult grandchildren, with parents who pay living costs for their own offspring, don’t fit that test.

It’s hurtful, but the will is clear in this case. (And I would say that generally if you don’t understand what the provision in law actually means, it’s best not to suggest it - false hope is a terrible thing.)

If the step mother died within 30 days and the f2f got their money what was going to happen to the rest of the money?

F2f should read grandchildren

I had a friend whose dm came from a wealthy family.
When the dm died the df married again later in life.
He then died leaving everything to new wife.
What hurt my friend was her dm's money going ultimately to people who never even knew her.

Men are b's for thinking with their dicks and disregarding their own dc.

@TakeYourFinalPosition

What is the exact wording? That will matter here.

If it's written that he leaves everything to step-mum; but if step-mum died within 30 days then he leaves 10k each to A, B and C, to be distributed when they reach 21... then they'd only get that if step-mum died within the 30 days.

This

NoSquirrels - I am a solicitor so pretty happy that I am providing correct advice, including the fact that they would likely be unsuccessful. The only part I had not seen is that the OP says her father died some time ago, which would mean it is too late.

However, everything else I said is accurate. The OP can (could have done if in time) make a claim, not the grandchildren. The OP even said she struggled with money which would mean she could argue she was in need.

PS I think perhaps you were missing the point of what I was saying. The will is almost irrelevant to making a claim under that part of the law (although the court would likely look at the will to establish intent). So it doesn't matter if the original will had a potential for the grandchildren to get any money (which never came to fruition as that part of the will was never enacted). Whether it would succeed is a different matter, based on a variety of factors, but a child of a person who dies can still make a claim even if the will is very clearly excluding them.

A good (and more coherent than my words) breakdown of this part of the law, for anyone who is interested. As I said above, I do not think it helps the OP as a claim must be made within 6 months.

Note the example in here of an adult child who was long estranged from their mother still obtaining £50,000 from the estate.

www.birketts.co.uk/insights/legal-updates/the-inheritance-act-1975

@Horizons83

PS I think perhaps you were missing the point of what I was saying. The will is almost irrelevant to making a claim under that part of the law (although the court would likely look at the will to establish intent). So it doesn't matter if the original will had a potential for the grandchildren to get any money (which never came to fruition as that part of the will was never enacted). Whether it would succeed is a different matter, based on a variety of factors, but a child of a person who dies can still make a claim even if the will is very clearly excluding them.

Thank you for clarifying! Sorry to assume you didn’t know - I thought you had not appreciated that the OP was specifically asking about her own children’s claim (grandchildren) but I understand now you’re saying any adult child can bring a claim. That’s true, of course, but my understanding is it’s really very unlikely to succeed unless as an adult your parent has been financially supporting you or similar. Hence the false hope thing!

Note the example in here of an adult child who was long estranged from their mother still obtaining £50,000 from the estate.

Blimey! Well, you learn something new every day.

I would agree that false hope is not good, it is not an easy route to take (and I fully concede I am missed the part where OP had said that her father passed away some time ago, which would make this entire route impossible). But hopefully the discussion provides some information to people in similar circumstances.

I remember being shocked in law school when I first learned this - until that point I never realised it was possible to overturn a will in this way.

I guess this is why many countries eg France make it impossible for parents to disinherit their children ( legitimate or illegitimate). Though you can effectively disinherit your future spouse by marrying under the 'separation des biens ' rules.

Mind you they also make it more difficult for the surviving spouse who doesn't inherit. Catches out many ex pats who've bought property in France.

Anyone marrying/ living abroad/ marrying a foreigner should check the rules.

@jeannie46

I guess this is why many countries eg France make it impossible for parents to disinherit their children ( legitimate or illegitimate). Though you can effectively disinherit your future spouse by marrying under the 'separation des biens ' rules.

Mind you they also make it more difficult for the surviving spouse who doesn't inherit. Catches out many ex pats who've bought property in France.

Anyone marrying/ living abroad/ marrying a foreigner should check the rules.

Agree with this, and also would say that anyone who feels strongly that morally people should not be able to 'disinherit' their adult children/grandchildren in favour of a (second) spouse, should be encouraged to write to their MP/start a petition/run a campaign to change our laws to something more similar to France or the many other countries in the world that do have regulations setting out that certain amounts or %s of estates have to be left to your children.

Personally I would not be in favour of that, I do understand and sympathise with OP and others who have been 'cut out' particularly in cases of remarriage, but equally I feel competent/capacious adults should be free to do what they like with their own money (taking proper advice of course to make sure their wishes are legally enforceable) and would not want to see more restrictive laws being brought in to curtail our liberty in this way. As others have said there are reasonably common/easy ways to leave life interests in money/property to a surviving spouse whilst ring-fencing money for future generations and for whatever reason the grandfather in this instance chose not to use them... I'm sure it wasn't about deliberately wishing to exclude his grandchildren since he did mention them specifically albeit only to inherit if his wife pre-deceased or died shortly after him, so I am guessing (and it can only be a guess) he wanted his wife to have absolute freedom and access to all the money for her maintenance and old age rather than being limited by trusts and life interests etc (which can mean there is less money available to pay care costs or can restrict the surviving spouse if they want to move home etc).

But since OP's question was about (England's) current law and that question has been fairly comprehensively answered I don't know that there's much more to be gained by debating the morals of the situation (and obviously we only have the OP's perspective on it anyway)...

I suspect your dad didn't understand it. My dad didn't understand what the solicitor told him and had to go back and reexecute.