* Inheritance

[Guest]

hi can anyone offer any advice.. my grandfather who passed away towards the end of last year has named me as beneficiary along with my mum and her 4 brothers and sisters to receive an equal share of his estate. my mum passed away at the beginning of last year.. the will says if one of the beneficiaries were to die, their share would go to their children. the executor who is also a beneficiary has told me my mums share would go to my brother as i cant be a beneficiary and also the child of a beneficiary.. . is this correct. ? or should i also receive half my mums share.. and if so what should i do.. ?

[Amethyst]

I'm sorry for your loss. Your Mums share would be split 50/50 between you and your brother. Irrespective of whether you are a beneficiary of your Grandads Will in your own right.

If you are all ( you, your mum and her 4 siblings ) residual beneficiaries the remaining estate after everything's settled / costs etc should be divided equally between 6 and your mums 6th divided in half to be distributed to you and your brother ( unless there is any other clause in the will in that regard - do you have a copy ? ) If there was no clause at all in the will then as your mum is your grandads issue, her share would go 50/50 to you & your brother as her issue anyway.

It wouldn't affect the amount any other beneficiary of your grandads will get as your mums share is the same irrespective of its split between you and your brother or just goes to your brother so seems likely the executor is trying to even things up as grandad hadn't included your brother in his will rather than for any personal gain etc.

Ill tag Peridot and des8 to confirm ( in case there is some obscure weird rule I don't know about ) and suggest what you need to do but if you have a copy of grandads will and can type out the relevant part it would help xxx

[des8]

I agree with Amethyst 's view.

[sparkles22]

i lived with my grandparents and my brother who lived with my mum is my half brother. ive tried to appoach the executor and she was quite angry and said if i did this grandchildren would also expect a share..

[ostell]

The executor would not appear to know what she is talking about. What reason does she give for the grandchildren being eligible for a share?

[des8]

Well, the grandchildren would be disappointed then!
It is for the executor to follow the provisions of the will, not to be concerned about dashed expectations of those not named as beneficiaries.

If the executor fails to implement the provisions of the will, he/she becomes personally liable and there are a number of steps a beneficiary can take.

But wait for Peridot 's input which might not be until Monday

[sparkles22]

ok thanks for the info im waiting for a copy of the will to make sure ive not got it wrong.. it was read out and nothing i could see said otherwise..

[Peridot]

Hi Sparkles22,
sorry to hear about your mum and grandad.
So if mum passed before grandad, and provided there is nothing to say otherwise in his will then her share will be divided equally between her children, you and your brother.
As des8 suggests the executor doesn’t seem to understand her duties. At the end of the day the other grandchildren are not receiving anyth8ng as their parent is still alive. If that were not the case then they would get a share of their parent’s legacy.
Once you have the Will copy we can just check again for you.
Of course it’s up to the other beneficiaries whether they wish to gift an amount to their own children but nothing to do with the Will and what happens when a residuary beneficiary dies before the testator.

[sparkles22]

got my copy of the will
on first page me and my mum along with her brother and sisters are listed to get an equal share. im described as grandchild.
on second page it says this

PROVIDED ALWAYS that if any of them (my children or grand-daughter as mentioned above) should predecease me-leaving-a child or children living- at* the date of my death then that child or those children will take the share which his, her or their parent would have taken if he or she had survived me


is there anything in the paragraph above which could suggest that i cant get an equal share of my mum share also?

[Amethyst]

Nope. Your mums share is split between you and your brother., it's not brilliantly worded though as it should really say ' in equal shares' or something but the meaning is clear - your mum's share goes to her children.

You mention your brother is your half brother - just to check is he your mum's son ?

[sparkles22]

yes hes my mums son

[Amethyst]

So your mum's share should be split equally between you and your brother. That you are a beneficiary in your own right as well is irrelevant.

If it were, for example, your aunt that had died before your grandad, then her share would be distributed equally between her children. It's the same.

Are you the oldest of the grandchildren ? and was the will written before any of the other grandchildren were born ?

Where do things currently stand with the executor ?

[sparkles22]

Yes I’m the eldest. Me and my mum lived with my grandparents my mum moved out and I stayed with them. Was still in close contact with my mum. My nana and grandad saw me as one of their children so included me in their will. I think that’s why the executors feels I can’t have any of my mums share. I tried to talk to the executor a while back and she got quite angry saying it was her job to decide what the will says.. not spoken to her since

[Peridot]

Hi Sparkles22,
The executors job is to do as the will says not provide her own interpretation. It does seem that the words are very clear and the situation looks to have been thought about when the Will was prepared.

[sparkles22]

thank you for the advice.. im just wondering what i should do now.. should i go and see the executor.. what should i do if she still refuses to follow the wording of the will. ?