They don't let any old Tom, Dick or Henry live in Ambridge - The Archers chat continues

[PseudoBadger]

Hello you two :o

Brian has made a will which leaves all five of the Home Farm offspring well provided for.

Alice should be able to support herself well with her engineering qualification, and she has made a very good choice of husband (unusual for a woman from that branch of the Archer family) who is also doing well for himself and looks likely to stay around. Over and above that, she stands to get a holiday cottage and some money that Peggy put in trust for each of her grandchildren a long time ago (when she was worried about them after Brian's affair with Siobhan).

Kate also gets a cottage and she also has a husband who can support her and her children because he works hard and is getting on well. She has her worthless certificate from the University of Felphersham and is also building some sort of career. She doesn't need much money nor does she deserve any, given that she is a nasty piece of work.

Debbie seems to be making a lot of money (remarkably, given that she has no qualifications), she is single and childless and living in tied accommodation (probably), so we have to assume she is able to save a large proportion of her salary. She will be absolutely fine financially from her own efforts, but over and above that, Brian adores her, so she will in due course inherit a large chunk of Home Farm from him.

Adam is married to a man who can also support himself and it doesn't look as if they will ever have children. They own their own home (with a mortgage) - didn't Peggy help out there? Can't remember now. He is not Brian's blue-eyed boy, but Brian has promised to leave him a big chunk of Home Farm too.

Ruairidh is a child, so who knows what his future holds as yet, but he is also promised a good inheritance from Home Farm.

James is in clover financially, as he stands to inherit most of Ralph's money (which is probably in trust for him).

However, none of them is going to be happy about this new will, except Tom. That's why this is such a clever move from the SWs. At last, something that will genuinely Shake Ambridge To The Core!

Depending on value of Piggy's estate, leaving money to a gchild is a good strategy for avoiding 2 sets of Inheritance Tax in a relatively short period of time, yes? I think I've seen skipping a generation mentioned in this context. But don't tell my DF

Jeck's will had to leave most to Hazel, or there would be far too much money washing around for dramtic purposes. And that led nicely on to Piggy's revelations this evening :)

This makes me think that Rob will be quick off the mark to marry Hellin.
Then presently her body can join Jess's under the patio and All Will Be His

Doesn't matter what Brian's will is now - unless he kicks the bucket tomorrow. Perhaps as a result of the mystery disappearing epilepsy.....

It is a fun plot twist. Oh the angst....what's the betting Helen isn't happy with the lodge. Must be worth what £200,000 minimum?

If you were Tom, wouldn't this make you feel rather awkward? I mean, what would you say when you had to face your cousins who've just been disinherited in our favour at, say, for example, picking an event entirely at random, a wedding ?

your favour ...

I I was me I would. If I was Tom, I would think it was nothing less than i deserved!

Oh, I know Brian can change his will at any time, but Jennifer drove a hard bargain in return for taking Ruairidh on. I think Brian knows which side his bread is buttered on, and he really does worship the ground Debbie treads on, so I think he will stick with the arrangements already made.

Brookfield: I think this is what happened. When Phil and Jill decided to retire, they did plan simply to hand Brookfield over to David and Ruth in return for a decent pension payment from the farm profits. Elizabeth and Kenton were very cross about this, Shula made matters worse by her handwringing smug sanctimonious protestations that she needed nothing, and there was a lovely nasty family row. This must have been over ten years ago now - how time flies! IIRC, the big row was over New Year and David stomped out and ended up stuck in a ditch under a cow for a few hours. Anyway, eventually Phil and Jill backtracked a bit and the current arrangement is that David and Ruth own A shares in Brookfield and Elizabeth, Kenton and Shula own B shares. The B shares are worthless unless David and Ruth sell up. Elizabeth and Shula will get Glebe Cottage between them and Kenton will get nothing else as Phil and Jill helped him out of financial scrapes at least twice many years ago so the view is that he has already had his inheritance.

Curlew makes a good point. The disinherited cousins may well not feel very warm towards Tom (and may express this in their various ways around the Tom/Kirsty wedding) but he will feel that he is the only worthy custodian of all that lovely money. After all, it will free him up to spend more time developing Sausage Based Strategies.
Helen will be cheesed off (see what I did there?) because she too feels like the most deserving of the possible heirs, and all she's been awarded is the Lodge, which is probably hideous and full of giant white grab rails, and she won't have enough money to redo it to her exacting taste.

Ungrateful cah !

Re Pip and Josh

They were talking about family farming on Farming Today last week (I leave for work very early!)

Apparently it's still common for farmers in the UK to be heard to respond to the question of who will inherit with "I don't know, I only have daughters"

Ahhh Bluestocking I can even hear " sausage based strategies" in Tom's bloody voice.

And Robust Ready Meal Market Readiness Metrics.

Tom is going to mature into the kind of man who says 'myself' unnecessarily, isn't he.

Don't! In fairness Kirsty seems to have cured him slightly of his habit of boring all and sundry to death. He is though going to be the dullest of middle aged men. We've all got one in the family

I haven't listened yet but-what?-Peggy said Jenny had made a good choice in Brian? This is the same Peggy who so marvellously and memorably said "I'd like to horsewhip you, Brian" when she found out about Siobhan? Come ON SWs.

If Peggy has to go into the Laurels for a long time Tom's theoretical inheritance could be less than the value if the house.

One of our neighbours has a son and 2 daughters. One of the daughters is still at school but still does milking, mucking out etc. Son has a non farming job. Guess who is inheriting the farm in full?

I was speaking to a customer recently, telling him something he didn't really want to hear. He hung up and called back asking for a proper opinion from a man.

The 21st century has not reached all industries yet

Peggy has always been very sexist. Remember that she insisted on going to church in Darrington (or similar) when Janet was the vicar because she was so anti-women speaking god's word?

Didn't she express some borderline racist comments when Usha moved to the village?

Peggy just meant "Brian is rolling in it so you'll be OK" - although the damning with faint praise was reserved for Pat and Tony, I was surprised she didn't have a more waspish tone when speaking of Brian.

Oh wan't it just absolutely delicious! Moany Tony and PATronising will be gfeeling hard done by so therell be tension at that house. The cousins will be daggers darwn at the wedding....marvellous!

I do think they are building it up to Peggy carking it quite soon

Sorry about the typos. I'm over excited

my mum suggested to her father that he leave more to her siblings with less money and he said NO ABSOLUTELY NOT IT WILL BE DIVIDED EXACTLY EQUALLY because as others have said

1. previously reasonable people can go all funny about money/inheritances and real or perceived injustices

1. you can't guarantee that those who are well-off now will continue to be, likewise with those who are less well-off