A moral question (not in the Uk so don't worry about the legals)...
Frank is a relative of mine and his health isn't the best. Basically he knows he is on borrowed time so trying to do as much as he can.
Frank has been married to his 2nd wife for a number of years now, and when her children from her first marriage were younger (they do not have children together) the children took on/were given our family surname although no formal adoption was put in place and Frank raised them as his own.
Those children had a relationship with their bio Father until he moved overseas and continue today with connections with half siblings and extended family now they are well into adulthood.
Frank had a successful business when he met his 2nd wife that was started with his 1st wife. 1st wife was paid out as part of divorce proceedings, and they keep in contact. The business has substantially grown during his 2nd marriage to the credit of both Frank and his 2nd wife.
Her children have been financially taken care of throughout their years. In recent times, they were awarded (via court) a share of their bio Father's estate.
Recently one of them asked for and received (converted to UK currency) 1 million pounds to buy their dream property. It's all put through a family trust to protect that adult child from any future claim from their spouse, and was set up years ago.
The other adult step children received similar in the name of fairness. As you can guess, Frank and his wife are not short of a quid.
Frank told me he is worried about his Will being challenged and has been to several Lawyers. This conversation included his 2nd Wife. I ran through the usual scenarios, ie 1st wife putting in another claim, DIL or SIL claiming on the assets given to his step children etc. None of those seem to be of concern and the conversation dropped.
Fast forward and when on my own it dawned on me Frank might feel his siblings might challenge his Will. I don't think he has remembered or addressed money being loaned to him many years ago, and it has built some resentment with the siblings. Frank was supported in his youth by his siblings giving their wages back to the family. It's not a conversation I'm willing to have over the phone, but plan on seeing Frank again in coming months (we live in different countries to each other).
My question is: Do you think Frank should include his siblings in his Will to some degree?
Sorry for the length of the post, I didn't want to drip feed.