Some Questions on wills

[HelloDeidre]

My mother plans to leave her house to my sister and two lots of 25K to my brothers. She says she is spending the rest

My questions are

1. if the 50K bequests are not covered because the money has gone when my moter passes on then does my sister have to sell the house to cover part or all of them ? My mother primarily wants my sister to have the house all else is secondary. Does she have to say something in the will to cover this unlikely scenario but you never know
2. It is possibly my mother does not spend all her other money and leaves some more behind. Is that divided equally among all her children if not covered in the will, BTW she is a widow

So if this money is not covered in the will ...Will this slow down the will above being executed ..will propbate take longer

Thank you

It sounds like the house is for your sister regardless. She will have to stipulate £25k each if there is enough funds. For example, if not divide it equally. And I imagine she will have to stipulate if more too, eg the balance after house and 2 x £25k to go to Diedre.

It all depends how it is worded in the will - not what you / your mum believe her intentions are. Please get your mother to speak with a solicitor to advise exactly what her wishes are in the event of the various scenarios you mention. It's really important that wording is precise to avoid any conflicts or misunderstandings for the executors and indeed the beneficiaries. Sadly family, money and an incorrectly worded will are a recipe for problems and fall outs despite everyone thinking it would never happen in their family ( Sadly I have first hand experience as an executor of poor wording so what was intended wasn’t in fact what could be done as there was insufficient cash to cover bequests and other assets supposedly bequeathed to others

So you get nothing?

Yes ..Im not in the will

If it's worded correctly your sister will get the house and brothers 25 k each . If the money left is less than 25k they will just get what ever is left split between them. If it's more and there is no stipulation for the remainder it would be split between next of kin so presumably you and your siblings. Unless your dm is married in which case remainder would go to her husband

Sorry missed she's a widow

Are you in England OP as the advice will differ depending.

Then I'd not worry about it

Usually a will is worded with bequest for a, bequest for b and residue of estate to c. C would be your sister and she would get anything left after bequests dealt with. However, that does mean the house would be sold to cover bequests if not enough funds.

Take legal advice and ask for a will that says bequest of house to sister and any residue to be split by brothers.

I have asked to be the executator of the will ..so have to

I'm slightly horrified that you are the executor but getting nothing...
Can you decline to be the executor? Why wouldn't your sister do it? She's getting the main benefit from it! Sounds like you're being given all the hard work when you're the only one not actually getting anything!

I want my sister to get the house and I dont want other siblings to get it for various reasons

I have argued with my mother about leaving me nothing in the will but she is giving me nothing as she thinks I have enough ...thing is one of my brothers who has nothing is becasue he is a gambler ...the other 2 have small kids and I have no children ( or partner)

If there's excess money not covered by the bequests, it will be divided according to the intestacy rules. As your mother has no living spouse (I presume), it would be split between her offspring in equal shares, including you.

I'm afraid that if I were you, and felt that I was being treated unfairly by my mother, ie, not being left anything, then I would not agree to be executor. Her asking you to do that when she doesn't want you to benefit at all, is most unfair in my opinion. Is she aware of your brother's gambling addiction OP?

Can’t you decline the executor role? That would make it very easy for you.

You can refuse. Even if you say no and she still names you, when she dies you can say no I’m not doing it.

Your sister should be executor. Does your mother have the incorrect belief, as so many people do, that beneficiaries of a will can’t be executors?

It's her money to do as she wishes, by by God she'd be looking for another executor pronto!

Just go and see a solicitor.

It's not usual to mention actual amounts - usually it's like '£5000 to the RSPCA for all their hard work and the remainder to be shared equally between my sons Robert and Kevin blah blah', as no one knows how much funds they will have on death.
My husband had specific amounts to charities and his godson, the rest was to me if I survived him. As it happened there was not enough cash to give those amounts so once all creditors paid off the remainder was divided pro rata between them.
But to your question - no your sister will not need to sell the house if the liquid part of the estate is not enough to pay the amounts mentioned. But she should not mention actual amounts.
As executor you are allowed to have expenses paid in carrying out your duties. Her funeral should be paid from her estate before distribution.
You can renounce being executor if you wish but you must do so without doing anything with the estate at all. If no other executor has been appointed some one else must apply for the grant of probate, most likely this would be one of your siblings. A private lawyer could do it to (though this will cost).