Last Will And Testament

[christinemar]

Mother dies. Will leaves estate to only child. If only child dies before Mother, mothers eldest sister inherits. Will is still being finalised and only child dies intestate. Mother has three siblings. Will they share the inheritance.?

[bhg481]

If I read your question correctly, the mother has died intestate; a will was being prepared but had not been signed and witnessed, therefore has no validity. Any intended wishes are irrelvant; the death is treated as intestate.

[Old_Geezer]

No expert but if only child dies then she already has received her mother's wealth and so normal intestate rules apply. There are rules about who inherits in those conditions. Spouse usually inherits. Did only child have kids of her own ? I think we need a little clarity on the situation.

[Peter Pedant]

is there a will or not ?
you cant as a matter of law have "almost a will" - or a valid will but it wasnt signed ....

if M makes a will to say A inherits . A dies first without a will and then M dies - from the question the three sisters get it

If M makes a will to say A inherits but if A dies then S1 inherits, and M goes and dies after burying A then S1 gets it

If M makes a fol-de-rol about having a will but actually hasnt got around to making one - and dies then the rules of intestacy operate and the three sisters get a third in equal measure

[bhg481]

On reading again, perhaps "being finalised" meant "still in probate". In other words mother dies with a valid will leaving all to son unless he pre-deceases her. Son dies after mother but intestate. In that case the estate is distributed to the son's relations. Under my first reading the estate would have gone to the mother's relations.

[Buenchico]

It's common practice for wills to include a 'survival clause', requiring a beneficiary to live for a certain period after the death of the testator if they're to benefit from the will. So that might be relevant here. (i.e. if the child died before she became due to inherit under a survival clause then the mother's oldest sister would get everything)

However if there was no such clause (or there was but the child had already lived beyond the specified period when she also passed away) then the inheritance she was due to receive from her mother forms part of her estate and must be distributed in accordance with the rules relating to intestacy.

See here
https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will
and/or here
http://www.kingstonsmith.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Intestacy-Rules-flowchart-if-you-live-in-england-1.pdf

(Note that the rules in those links apply to England & Wales only).

[Peter Pedant]

christine this reads more like "No will and testament"

you will be unsurprised to read that I got up and went over to my bureau and checked my own will was ready and waiting ......

I am sorry if it is your own mother RIP

Death does odd things
S2 and S3 who would have been disinherited may say Haha ! where's my money I have worked hard for this !
or they might say it is quite obvious that S1 should benefit .....

One of my neighbours left all her money to a cats home and ignored the needs of a dependent grandson - who in turn was told the charity would not oppose an application for relief if he made one. He said that his grandmother could have left him money if she wanted - she clearly didnt want so he wouldnt claim ! wow !

[Peter Pedant]

yeah thanks again chris
I made sure my will had a fall thro clause after reading a lot of your posts....