Inheritance for unborn child

[Angelrules7]

Does anyone know if, a grandchild that was conceived before the death of a grandparent, that the grandparent knew was coming when they died, will be included in a will stating money should be "divided equally between my grandchildren"? Or because they wernt quite born they don't count?

I assume you'll get the same answers as the previous thread on the subject

I'm hoping there might be some people with actual legal knowledge in this topic area, didn't realise it existed, thankyou for your helpful comment though 🙄

Ask a solicitor!!??

My will states that at death the majority of my estate goes to my daughter, or should I survive her, to her children in equal measure. ( I currently have 2 grandchildren ) but it would include any further grandchildren.
No-one would be silly enough to have to 're write a will after every new birth in the family.

This happened in my family - the executors made a decision to include the unborn grandchild. The baby had been born by the time probate was granted. The executors respected the sentiment behind the instruction - they didn't ask any of the other beneficiaries but no-one would have objected.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3504866-to-be-fighting-about-fil-s-will

Apologies OP if you are not the writer of this near identical thread with extremely similar user names.
Might be useful reading...

Yes that was me, it was suggested in there that I post in legal as I might get better advice here, so that's what i did

I'm a lawyer, and I read the previous thread where many posters gave you the correct advice,which is that it depends on the exact wording of the will. Often, a will will say "I leave... to be decided equally between my grandchildren living at the time of my death" or similar wording. "Living" means "has been born", not "is about to be born" or "has been conceived". Alternatively, as a poster on your other thread said, wording including your unborn child could have been used (though it appears it wasn't).

What you think the testator's "true" wishes would have been, or how pregnant you were at the time of his death, are irrelevant. In the absence of any arguable issue over his capacity to make a will, or undue duress placed on him to execute the will he did, the law presumes that the last will executed reflects his wishes. Unfortunately often people do not update their wills to reflect changed circumstances, and so what happens after their death doesn't reflect what they might have done, had they thought about it immediately before their death.

You are likely to have to spend considerably more than the £2,500 at issue on legal fees arguing over this, not to mention the damage to family relations, so going "legal" is probably not your best bet.

Should have been "to be DIVIDED" not "decided".

If it's that open and shut, why would a lawyer persue the case? Surely it would just be a case of no there is no legal standing, so wouldn't cost that much? I don't know I'm just asking

Yes, it depends on the precise wording of the will. The most likely wording would mean that the children in care will inherit half each and the adopted and unborn children will get nothing. If the beneficiaries were adults then they’d be free to say “that doesn’t seem fair, I’m sure it’s not what grandpa would have wanted, let’s split it evenly between the four of us” but that is not legally possible where the beneficiaries are children (although with such small sums at stake I suppose there’s little chance of successfully fighting the executor if he does choose to play fast and loose with the rules).

I'm also a lawyer, and my wills always say "....to be divided in equal shares between such of my grandchildren as shall survive me" where there's a chance that more will be born.

There is a clause to cover children in utero but I rarely use it.

Sorry, but I think you're going to have to just let that one go, £2,500 is simply not worth litigating over.

If it's that open and shut, why would a lawyer persue the case?

Because they'll get the fee regardless of the outcome to you.