Grandparents and adopted grandchildren

[ChorltonCreamery]

A grandparent has died and their will leaves everything to their grandchildren.

The grandchildren will receive unequal amounts as the estate is divided proportionally e.g. Divided into quarters. So a grandchild without siblings will get a quarter and grandchildren with siblings will share a quarter with their siblings.

The grandchildren are named individually- the named grandchildren are all biological grandchildren.

However one of the deceased’s children has two adopted children with their second wife. One of the adopted grandchildren was initially a step-child and the other grandchild was adopted from abroad.

The adopted grandchildren were not mentioned in the will.

He is pressuring his biological daughter to share with her adopted half-siblings. She refuses. He has now appealed to his nephew and nieces and again they are refusing.

The adopted children are still children.

One of the biological grandchildren is 16 (not the daughter of the son who is annoyed) but the others are all adults.

Can the son challenge the will on behalf of the adopted children who were adopted before the will was made?

In England. Estate is roughly 3 million pounds with the house included.

I don't think he can challenge it if the grandchildren are named. If it states the will should be split equally between my grandchildren then adopted children are treated equally by the law, but it doesn't sound like that's the case here?

There are grounds to challenge distribution if you're a dependent who is unfairly left out - but this doesn't sound like this is what has happened here. The adoptions were made prior to the will so it was clearly a decision made by the deceased at the time, and presumably when they had mental capacity.

I'd check with a lawyer but I assume not (in England).

What a shower of arseholes though. A deed of variation to even everything up would be relatively painless. And much fairer unless there's a serious back story.

I don’t think so - they’re specifically not named, nor actual blood relatives. If it was an ambiguous “grandchildren” perhaps more of a chance.

What would be the grounds for a challenge?

I always think that's so unfair, no one gets a choice in whether or not they have siblings. Dad can try make it equal in his own inheritance but if the beneficiaries don't want to share there's nothing he can do.

And not possible unless all the affected beneficiaries are over 18

If the beneficiaries are named in the will I'm not sure what is it that you would actually be challenging?

She was aware of the adopted children at the time the will was written and didn't name them as beneficiaries. She is allowed to do that.

It’s awful of the deceased but nothing can be done now. All your DB could do would be to amend his own will to give the adopted children a larger share of his own estate.

I can sort of see the first half of it, as they’re dividing it equally between their own children, but passing it on a generation. But excluding grandchildren who have been formally and legally adopted seems harsh. However, as written after the adoptions, and using specific names, I suspect it would be hard to challenge.

I can’t see how this would be challenged unless it’s ambiguous and it doesn’t sound like it is.

I also think pressuring the beneficiaries is not on. It may seem like an unfair decision by the deceased but we don’t know the full circumstances, it may not be as simple as differentiating between biological/adopted grandchildren. Maybe the son had moved far away in between first and second wives so the deceased had seen much more of and felt much closer to the older (biological) grandchildren. Who knows.

Deends where the OP

Can the son challenge the will on behalf of the adopted children who were adopted before the will was made?

Is he seriously going to say that because his mother deliberately chose not to name his children as beneficiaries, her will should be challenged? On what basis?

I am not involved with this at all. The mother of the disgruntled son’s daughter is a member of my extended family, who is ok with me posting.

The deceased gave no indication about the contents of the will but it was supposed it would be divided between her own children.

I understand the grandchildren are ok with the uneven inheritance as they accept it being proportionate to the number of kids their own parent had. They are happy with receiving this a generation early.

They are supportive of their cousin who they believe is being bullied by their dad and stepmother.

Cousin’s daughter has no relationship with the elder of her adoptive half-siblings but is close to the little one.

No idea what the cousins think of the adopted children, there is a massive age difference, or if they even really know them.

There is no real backstory other than the usual divorce and an initial compromise on lifestyle.

The second wife was not the other woman.

This is sad. My DGM left a small legacy for each of her GGC. A year later we adopted, and my Mum and Aunt made sure our DC got the same amount.

Has he actually adopted his step child? Upon reflection I can kind of see how my Dh might feel, if he's 30 and his cousins are aged 16 to 30 and have spent that amount of time with grandparent and then dad decided to get married again and now has kids the same age as great grand children. And he wants them to inherit from a grandparent they don't know.

The grandmother must’ve had her reasons for not including the two adopted children.
Did she had a good relationship with them?
Did she approve of her son’s second marriage?
Did she leave the father of the adopted children an inheritance?

either way it’s shitty for the dad to pester his oldest daughter.

So, for arguments sake the granddaughter is being asked to swap a £750,000 inheritance for a £250,000 inheritance out of the goodness of her heart.

That's a big ask if she doesn't actually feel a sibling type relationship with her father's adopted children.

I don't think any of the other grandchildren come into it and should certainly not be asked to share.

From what you've said of the will, they have no right to anything and the only solution would be for their sister to gift them half a million (assuming tax has already been deducted). I don't think their sister likes them that much and it's up to the parent's to ask themselves why.

The adoptees are children, so they don't need the money right now. Their father can always compensate by redirecting his own estate to his two younger children, or to his wife if she survives him, or by gifting money to them while he's still alive.

It's not bullying to point out that a deed of variation is a (time-limited) option. But it's not possible here because all the beneficiaries are unwilling (and one is too young).

A challenge would be a waste of time and money.

If the grandchildren are specifically named and its not "X shall be divided by all the children of my son X equally" he has no hope in hell of changing the will.

With the will being made after the adoptions, and the grandchildren being specifically named, he has very little chance (if any) or challenging on behalf of the adopted children as it's a clear decision to leave them out, rather than them being missed.

So the first adopted child is in fact a step child but then legally adopted, and the sole benefactor in that family has no relationship with them? That's very unusual? I wouldn't expect her to willingly share her inheritance with a step sibling she has no relationship with either. The fact that her father legally adopted the step sibling doesn't change that, and even if she is fond of the younger sibling it doesn't sound like she has a sibling type relationship with them. I don't think she's being unreasonable to be fair.

This, was their a relationship between the deceased family member and the 2nd wife and her children?

The father is upset with his parent's choices but he has no right to harass his daughter, neices or nephews to change the will. The grandparent wanted to split their estate equally between their children but pass it directly to the next generation. They did not want to leave any inheritance to the adopted grandchildren. The father can rectify the discrepancy with his own money but he risks alienating his daughter, if he hasn't already.

If the biological granddaughter who is being seen as an only child in the will has no relationship with her adopted siblings that suggests a back story.

How old was the stepchild when they were adopted? Did they have a grandparent/grandchild relationship with the deceased?

With the cousins being supportive it definitely doesn't sound like the adopted children are close to the extended family, or even their sister, and that may go some way to explaining the decision.

Wills are there for a reason. So that the deceased persons money and assets go to who they name.