Who's in your will?

[JorisBonson]

Very grateful this board was created today as I have to update my will.

As it stands, DH will get the lot if I go before him. If be goes before me, or we go together, my (also childfree) brother will get everything. If God forbid they both go before me I'll likely leave it all the charity.

I also want to leave around 10% of my (measley) estate to my best friend, just to give her tiny nest egg.

I'm hoping to spend it all before I pop it.

This is true actually - both spending to enjoy, but also knowing we will need to rely entirely on paid services for perhaps even quite low-level help as we age and potentially get sick or disabled. I wouldn’t have expected children to do any sort of personal care for us, but a hand with the odd bit of gardening or shopping, or a lift here and there to a hospital appointment, say - the kind of thing I do without thinking for my parents - just won’t be available.

The plan is to spend it all, like @Wyndam says!

But failing that - DH gets everything. I'm very lucky to have quite a decent amount so I do need to think about where my half would go if we both died (his half would go to his awful, selfish, greedy brother).

I have some step family (mum re-married, he's a lovely guy), one step-cousin (is there such a thing?) is autistic and cannot live independently, I might start a trustfund of some sort to ensure she's always looked after.

For tax efficiency (I certainly don't want any of it going into the hands of any reasonably foreseeable incarnation of the British state!) everything within the nil-rate band (tax-free bit) shared between few family and friends. Everything over and above that is spilt between a selection of charities with aims similar to my own.

Oh I have no actual cash to give 😂 just my share of the house and my pension. DH is going to be really disappointed 😂

If I need help when I am older, I have no problem with the idea of paying for it. And if I need to go into some sort of assisted living situation, I will probably sell my house to have a comfortable setting and with the rest (if any) being left to charity.

I have a DP for many years, 11years older than me and we've been together for many years now. Both getting on a bit, in our sixties, so we drafted our wills a couple of years ago.

We each own our properties outright. I don't have children, DP amazingly was contacted by his bio child a few years ago. Child was born and adopted many years before we met, and the birth mother left the country. DP didn't have any say in the matter at the time. Things were different then. Spent years trying to locate the child, but it all worked out in the end. Great ending.

I am leaving DP a token amount and something he would like to have that is symbolic of our relationship. He has enough he says, and doesn't want anything more. As you can imagine the bulk of his estate will go to his child, the rest to me.

I am leaving my DP what he asked for and he is adamant it should be nothing more. He would prefer I left it to my nieces and nephews (5 of them) so that's what I am doing. If any of them predecease me (heaven forbid), their share will go to their children. I am leaving my jewellery to my sister (she doesn't want anything either), and my electronic stuff to my brother (he's happy with that). My siblings' children will be the main beneficiaries. I left an amount to charity, and a bequest to my godchild, and to my sis and brother in law who were so good to me during my serious illness. My siblings were great also, but they don't want anything.

So I'm happy with that. No secrets in the family, everyone knows and my brother and sister will be executors. They are a good bit younger than me. I think my mother got a fright when she had me and then stalled for a few years!

currently our will leaves everything to each other. If we both died the majority would go to my best friend as well as care of our dog. The rest would be split between our 3 siblings.

Currently split between my husband and my sister. Fallback position will be charity but it's something I'd want to research quite carefully before choosing charities. I don't have any nieces/nephews, as my sister wasn't able to have children and DH is an only child, and there are no more distant relatives I'm in touch with.

Our wills have everything left to the other in the event of one of us dying.

In the event of double calamity, 50% goes to his family and 50% to mine. Then evenly split to each individual (among parents and siblings).

Our wills were done years ago before there were any niblings, and I’m not sure I’m motivated to revisit it. I might just leave the niblings to argue it out with their parents who would inherit.

We recently sorted our wills as we are not married either. Mirror wills so everything goes to each other and if we both go at the same time then it goes to our families - we basically took 50% each and split it how each of us wanted; mine is going mainly to my siblings with a small amount to my parents and DNs, his is mainly going to siblings (he has more so they get less each than mine) and a small amount to his dad.

I absolutely won't hesitate to spend the lot on care if needed and would sell or equity release the house too.

I said something about equity release to fund old age at work the other day and my colleague was aghast, saying that it takes all your equity and leaves nothing for your family. My Childfree colleague laughed at them and pointed out that neither of us have to worry about providing for any kids.

it is not a problem if childless people post on any board so why should people with children not post on any board if the topic is relevant for them too.

I do agree parents are more than welcome to post!

I'm assuming though in this case, that most parents will leave their children their estate and wordly goods, whereas it's not as straightforward as that for those that are childfree/childless.

So this thread probably isn't relevant to parents (or of any interest to them!).

We have kids but ignoring them my will is as follow. We've gone down 4 levels of death and destruction.
1 Everything to DH
2 kids
3 Evenly split between our siblings so they all get the same amount. We did debate this but we didn't like the idea of the two siblings on one side each getting 50% more than each of the three siblings on the other side, it's not like they've done anything to 'deserve' more money
4 If a sibling is dead their share goes to their kids. If they don't have kids their share split evenly between the siblings.

But is it relevant? If someone had children then the general expectation would be that after a partner any estate would go to their children. This thread is asking where people are leaving their estates in the absence of children.

Other than our estate gets left to each other, I genuinely have no idea who to leave it to after we’ve both popped off.

We only have one nephew and his parents ( my in laws) are extremely wealthy in the top 5% category themselves so he won’t want our peasant house and money 😆, so I have actually no idea!

I also don’t want to give to charity as I’ve seen what charities do to families who have had deceased relatives leave money to them, it’s awful and upsetting so that won’t be happening either

Anyone one on here want my cash

I have this challenge - I have something specific of appreciating value to give and I'm not sure which of a few choices is the correct beneficiary. It's really hard.

I only have three family members younger than me across mine and my husband's family, and we're not close. So if i die first it all goes to my husband, if i die last then i plan to divide it amongst these three but also friends who I would like to support. I won't clarify that until the time comes.

See if anyone can help me with me anonymously assessing the individuals.

Imagine that the item is inherited in a situation were all would be recipients are minors at the time of their inheriting

1. Closest Related Child

Parent is a loathsome individual who wouldn't appreciate the value of it or listen when told and would probably dump in a charity shop and consider it a job well done. Depending on the shop the value might not be recognised. I have no relationship with this child.

1. Friends Children

Both parents would appreciate the item and it's worth but I would want both children to benefit equally and if left to parents this isn't guaranteed

1. Another Family Child

Parents would be pleased, and probably would put in the effort to have the item properly valued, but more children are likely to be added both to this family and within the further extended family and it seems harsh to favour one family - if I brought it up the first question would be Why Not Closest Child? And that conversation is simply not in my interest

Well because it's dumb 🙄 the point is if you have kids it's easy because it goes to the kids, the point of this thread is what do you do if you don't have kids. Surely it's not that difficult to comprehend 😵

Everything left to DH if he survives me - otherwise split equally between D.C and DSs

Oops sorry not relevant!

It is a topic that leaves me befuddled. I had a couple of local beneficiaries in mind, but they have changed their business practices to a point where I barely recognize them. Most of my friends are about to inherit from their parents, and are not in great need any more. I just can't think it through properly, I find.

My DH and DS are the only beneficiaries.