AIBU to exclude my wife's family from our wills entirely?

[Bugbognor]

DW has very occasional contact with her sister but not the rest of her family, but gets on well with mine. We are preparing our wills - everything will go to our AS son, but we need backup conditions in case all three of us go together.
Our intention is exclude her family and share between my nieces & nephews.
Her family are likely to try and contest this - they’re the sort that would do this if they see the chance of money whereas my family wouldn’t expect anything. Just different upbringings.
Should we still leave them something, just to avoid arguments when we’re gone?

Your money is your money, and you decide who it goes to. If you wanted, you could give it all the cats' home, and there would be nothing wrong with that.

YANBU. I would speak to the person drafting the will, they can draft to ensure it’s clear that wife’s side should not inherit.

We wanted to limit a relative's share in our wills so said £x amount but the solicitor said that set amounts are paid out first so potentially the person we didn't want to get the money would get it and those on the percentage amounts wouldn't so in the end we left them out.

I am sure there is a note on the account that we excluded them because although related we are not close at all as a family. You could have something similar, a note to be read to them should they wonder why you made that decision. It means you have considered them and not just forgot them. I think i is different in Scotland though but that might be children.

I’m not an expert but I don’t think a person’s siblings or nieces/nephews have any standing to contest a will simply on the basis of “that’s not fair, we should have been left something!”

They'll only have a case to contest if you have any outstanding debt owing to them or they gave you a financial gift in the past, they could claim was a loan

Or you had provided ongoing financial support to them eg regular bank transfers, paying bills for them, providing free housing

For belt and braces you can include letters of wishes alongside your wills to explain that you don't want them to inherit and your reasons

It's your money, your entitled to leave it to whoever you want to leave it to, whether that be family or a charity, it's your choice entirely

I wouldn’t worry about it: the likelihood of all 3 of you dying together is pretty remote.

My will has an expression of wishes specifically excluding someone. In their case, there was a chance they could successfully challenge my will to an extent.

But neices and nephews? No inheritance rights unless you are financially supporting them. But you could include something to exclude them to be sure.

You could leave them £50 each. Then there's no contest because they weren't forgotten, they were considered and left something.

This is the legal advice always given in these circumstances. They can't claim they have been forgotten.

But is that necessary? I mean, isn’t it presumably fairly common for people not to leave anything to nieces and nephews and siblings? Everyone isn’t leaving £50 to every relative lest they decide to be grabby!

It is recommended if there is any chance the individuals might contest the will.

It’s completely up to your wife who she chooses to leave her money to. It sounds a bit like you’re making the decisions for her.

I agree leave them £100 token amount then the arguement they were forgotten can't be used.

You don't have to have mirror wills. Your wife can leave them something if she wants to, or not. As a married couple it's normal to leave everything to each other on first death. No one contests that.