Will beneficiaries question - new grandchildren

[Minkymooks]

Apologies - I know this is a bit mean spirited but it affects my children hence the question

My father in law died nearly 3 years ago and left a 25% share of his estate to be split between his grandchildren - including my 2 daughters.

The majority of the estate is his house
It has taken a long time to sell his house but it now looks like a sale will go through imminently

Since his death my sister in law has had another child ( conceived after the death). Is this child entitled to a share of the estate? ( which would reduce the share my daughters will get).
I do not know whether the will is made out to future beneficiaries or whether the grandchildren are named.
At what point in time are the beneficiaries decided? At death? Or when the funds paid out?

Thanks for any advice

Without knowing the precise wording of the will it is impossible to answer this question.

At death.

At death unless there is to be money held in trust for future generations.

It's the same argument as if a person dies on Tuesday leaving their entire estates to be split between A and B. A then gets hit by a bus on Thursday and their share would then be inherited as per their will not just given all to B.

It's the same argument as if a person dies on Tuesday leaving their entire estates to be split between A and B. A then gets hit by a bus on Thursday and their share would then be inherited as per their will not just given all to B.

Unless there's the usual 28 day survivorship clause but that's probably another thread

Thanks guys

It’s hard on the new grandchild to be left out though. I would expect some money to be given to this child to compensate. They are clearly worse off and if the sums are big, family divisions might appear. The earlier grandchild could make it fair to all. Seems very divisive otherwise.

@PresentingPercy

It’s hard on the new grandchild to be left out though. I would expect some money to be given to this child to compensate. They are clearly worse off and if the sums are big, family divisions might appear. The earlier grandchild could make it fair to all. Seems very divisive otherwise.

But then you'd have to hang on until all daughters/-in-law have gone through the menopause! And what if a son remarries a much younger woman in 20 years' time and they have children and so on and so forth. You have to draw the line somewhere and as we all know, life isn't always fair..

That’s very unfair though. What if it was £50,000 each? Big mistake to leave It to grandchildren where the mums are youngish anyway and presumably the grandchildren are too. Offspring only is easier. No arguments then. Leave a sum in trust for all eventual grandchildren is also fairer. What parent would be happy with some DGs getting £50,000 and others £0?

Second families could be excluded down the line. Also if left to immediate offspring they hand it out as necessary to all their children.

OP - you really want to see one of their cousins be treated very differently so as not to see your dd's share be reduced by a percentage?

And it isn't even your blood family's money.

As PRH47 says, it will depend on the exact wording of the will.

A family with care for future good relations could always ask for a deed of variation.

I was really annoyed when my parents put a clause into their wills about grandchildren Inheriting. My family is complete, I’ve had all my children (and there definitely won’t be anymore). My brother is relatively newly married, has one child, but I expect them to have more. It has the potential to be very unfair to a child born after their death. Hopefully it won’t be an issue, which was their attitude, but it just seems irresponsible of them to potentially put us in this situation which would be wholly unfair to a child who looses out.

Thankfully the ethical argument isn’t required as checked the will for exact wording and future beneficiaries were not provided for.
My sister in law plans to split it equally between her children so no child will be left out. However my daughters’ share isn’t reduced

So your DD gets twice as much? Well done you! She’s being very polite. And is prepared to see her DC with half of what yours get.

SIL is on very shaky ground if she steals half the money belonging to her older child to give it to her younger one.

And assuming the OP’s daughters are still under age the OP would be on equally dodgy ground if she deprived them of some of their inheritance to give it to their cousin.

I’m normally all in favour of using deeds of variance to correct wills which haven’t been properly thought through but the people giving up their share need to agree to it - their parents can’t do it on their behalf.

@Minkymooks

Thankfully the ethical argument isn’t required as checked the will for exact wording and future beneficiaries were not provided for. My sister in law plans to split it equally between her children so no child will be left out. However my daughters’ share isn’t reduced

All very well except it's not your sister in laws call. The money belongs to her eldest child.

@PresentingPercy

So your DD gets twice as much? Well done you! She’s being very polite. And is prepared to see her DC with half of what yours get.

No - she already has 3 children that received a share - not that it matters. The one born 3 years after the death wasn’t left any money in the will as not written for future beneficiaries. I asked the question regarding legal timings prior to all of the information in wording of will coming to light. It was not my decision to make

Leave a sum in trust for all eventual grandchildren is also fairer.

But what happens to the money if there are no more grandchildren? At what point do you cash in the trust? Ten years? Twenty years?

Yes it could be unfair but there's really nothing that can be done about it.

I'm sorry but you're being unrealistic.

Grabby and greedy.

Thank you - I’ll make sure she knows - she already has 3 children and the older ones old enough to make decisions
Could she use a deed of variance if they agree?

@Minkymooks

Thank you - I’ll make sure she knows - she already has 3 children and the older ones old enough to make decisions Could she use a deed of variance if they agree?

That was in reply to IanHBuckells

@PresentingPercy

So your DD gets twice as much? Well done you! She’s being very polite. And is prepared to see her DC with half of what yours get.

Ops dd gets what's been left to her. Sil cannot legally split inheritance between her children. When her dc who inherited is old enough they can give some to siblings if they want to, but no one else can do that

You can't do a deed of variation to deprive a minor so unless OP's and her sister in laws children are over 18 you can't do it anyway. So the money must be divided equally between the grandchildren at time of death. Only the OP and her SIM can do variation to reduce their share to give newer grandchild money OP, neither OP or SIL can reduce existing grandchildren share to provide for the 6th one.

Yes the SIL’s adult children could give some of their share to new baby. Probably too late now to do a deed of variation (not variance - I just typed that by mistake for some random reason) but actually given the ages and time period I can’t think of any problem with them just handing the money over when they receive it - deeds of variation are important to stop double taxation in certain circumstances but probably not this one.

The important thing is that it’s their choice to make, not their mother’s. Is there really an eighteen year gap? Hard to blame the grandfather for not foreseeing that then.

She can't do that if they are named beneficiaries. It's not her choice.

Those DC might wish to see the new baby get a share. It would be nice if they did that when they are old enough to make the decision. Depends on how they feel as siblings and as a family I guess. The OP’s child keeps her full share then.