Children Reaching The Age To Inherit Under My Will.

[Jennyhum]

My children who are 20 and 17 would inherit any estate of mine at age 25 in the event of my death. I am wondering would my daughter who is older by 3 years have to wait until her brother is 25 years before she could receive her share of the estate or would she receive hers on reaching 25 and my sons be kept for him somewhere until he reaches 25? If this is the case where would the estate funds be kept? Any advice would be so appreciated as my Solicitor won't answer this for me unless I pay to go and talk to him in his office....

[fiction-factory]

Is the age requirement stated in the will? If so the wording of the will is crucial here.
Some legal experts may be along who will know for sure. It may also depend on whether you are in England or Scotland etc

[jno]

ordinarily, I would have thought each one would get their share on reaching 25, unless there's a proviso to the contrary. (After all, if God forbid your son were to die at 24, it would mean your daughter would never inherit.) But as f-f says, it depends on the wording of the will.

[Jennyhum]

I am in England and the will reads like this:

I give devise and bequeath the residue of my estate after payment of my debts funeral and testamentary expenses to such of them my daughter (her name) and my son (his name) as shall survive me and if more than one in equal shares upon their attainting the age of twenty five years.

[Buenchico]

The two trust funds (which is where the relevant parts of your estate will be held) are entirely separate. They should hopefully have been drawn up in such a way that money from those funds may be used, at the discretion of the trustees, for specified purposes prior to the beneficiaries attaining the age of 25. (For example, if your son or daughter was attending university at the time of your death you might want them to be able to receive some of the money straight away in order to continue with their studies, rather than have the money at 25 after having been forced to leave university, through lack of funds, a few years earlier).

However each child will receive whatever's left in their own trust fund (which will be completely separate to that of their sibling) when they attain the age of 25.

[fiction-factory]

Sounds to me as if you die when one is over 25 and the other is under 25 then they won't get equal shares so the younger one gets nothing. But you need a wills expert

[fiction-factory]

Go with Buenchico rather than me on this as he has done this for a living. I was just going off the short extract you gave and wasn't aware of any trust fund

[Buenchico]

Aaagh!

Your second post wasn't there when I started typing. I'm astounded that there's no trust fund created by the wording of your will. So:
a) there's absolutely no indication of where the money should be held between your death and a child attaining the age of 25 years ; and
b) no provision for a child to be able to draw upon the funds (e.g. to remain at university or for medical care if they become disabled) during the intervening period.

If your present will was drawn up by your solicitor, my advice is GET A BETTER SOLICITOR (and a new will!).

[Maydup]

Since they are both adults now, and to save a complicated revision as to what happens in the intervening years, you might consider removing the age restriction altogether.

[woofgang]

Yes I did wonder what was so magical about the age of 25?

[Peter Pedant]

BC did this for a living JH so listen to 'im ( arr! )

The will both reach their majority in a year so do you want the hassle of separate trust funds ?

You have too many t's in your word 'attainted' - make sure it says 'attained'

The rule in wills is keep it simple - who is gonna run the trusts for your kids if you die ? a lawyer with all those fees allowable under the new Trustees Act ?

and I agree - get a solicitor who can write a will....
( that would mean paying up the current one for the work he has already done)

[Jennyhum]

Thank you all so much for your answers I will absorb each one of your replies you are all so helpful thank you !

[Barmaid]

Jennyhum, you dont need a new Will - although I am surprised that your solicitor did not explain it to you in full.

When your daughter is 25 she inherits her half. On your son's 25th he inherits his half.

S32 Trustee Act 1925 states that the trustees may advance up to half of each child's share before attaining the specified age. s31 of that Act states that they can have the income during a minority subject to the trustees' discretion and after the age of 18 can have it until their interest falls in.

I assume that your Will also includes other administrative clauses with regards to investment. But dont worry if it doesnt, the investment of the trust fund is covered by common law and statute and the fund should be invested until the children reach 25. It is impossible to say how and where it would be kept since this would depend on the size of the fund and the age of the beneficiaries at your death. If one is only a few weeks off her 25th, it is pointless investing the money. However, if you were to die tomorrow the Trustees would need to take advice as to the appropriate investment strategy.

[Jennyhum]

Thank you very much Barmaid that is most interesting. I have appointed family members as guardians on the will but as my children are now older this would probably not be necessary but would they automatically be the trustees as there is no mention of any trust or trustees on the will itself. I do feel peoples comments about getting a better solicitor are true. The will was drawn up 10 years ago and a few months later the local rumour mill reported that the original solicitor who I was using at the time was sadly an alcoholic and ended up having to leave the solicitors firm, indeed on one occasion I met with him he was smelling of alcohol, I wonder if he was a bit slack at the time of drawing up my will. I don't like to judge but I can't help but wonder. Anyway, thanks so much. Jenny.