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Deed of Variation
My wife's step-father died a couple of years ago.
He made provision in his will for my wife to inherit a part of his estate. Unfortunately due to an error in the execution (that may, or may not, have been due to negligence), the gift to my wife failed.
My wife's mother was not best pleased about this so wanted to gift to my wife the amount she would have inherited, had the gift to her not failed.
As there was no inheritance tax to pay on the estate (nor on my wife's mother's estate, when the time comes) it seemed logical to use a template Deed of Variation, simply to keep a record of the transaction.
There is an optional conditional clause in the template I do not understand.
It looks like this;
My questions are;
1. Is the clause necessary at all? If so, should the clause be predicated on the notion that either,
2. "the Will shall be deemed to take effect as if it left the Deceased's share in the Assets as a legacy to the New Beneficiary.", or;
3. "the Deceased's interest in the Assets was part of his free estate at his death."
Many thanks in advance for any thoughts or observations anyone might have.
He made provision in his will for my wife to inherit a part of his estate. Unfortunately due to an error in the execution (that may, or may not, have been due to negligence), the gift to my wife failed.
My wife's mother was not best pleased about this so wanted to gift to my wife the amount she would have inherited, had the gift to her not failed.
As there was no inheritance tax to pay on the estate (nor on my wife's mother's estate, when the time comes) it seemed logical to use a template Deed of Variation, simply to keep a record of the transaction.
There is an optional conditional clause in the template I do not understand.
It looks like this;
[2.4 The Deceased’s and the Current Beneficiary’s ownership of the Assets on the basis of a joint tenancy shall be deemed to have been severed just before the death of the Deceased, so that at that point they owned the beneficial interest in the Assets as tenants in common [in equal shares ] and
(EITHER)
[ the Will shall be deemed to take effect as if it left the Deceased's share in the Assets as a legacy to the New Beneficiary [ , subject to any related Inheritance Tax ]. ]
(OR)
[ the Deceased's interest in the Assets was part of [ his (OR) her ] free estate at his death. ] ]
(EITHER)
[ the Will shall be deemed to take effect as if it left the Deceased's share in the Assets as a legacy to the New Beneficiary [ , subject to any related Inheritance Tax ]. ]
(OR)
[ the Deceased's interest in the Assets was part of [ his (OR) her ] free estate at his death. ] ]
1. Is the clause necessary at all? If so, should the clause be predicated on the notion that either,
2. "the Will shall be deemed to take effect as if it left the Deceased's share in the Assets as a legacy to the New Beneficiary.", or;
3. "the Deceased's interest in the Assets was part of his free estate at his death."
Many thanks in advance for any thoughts or observations anyone might have.
