General Chat

My nieces will only inherit if we don’t have any children. Wills are getting written this year and yes percentages are important. My Owl is already almost 13 years older than his birth dad was when he died of cancer. His dad was only 26 years old. You never know what life has in mind for you.

Tomorrow for the big chat and we’ll see how it goes.

Thank you all for replying.

I have heard that charities can be very ‘demanding’ when it comes to bequests.

When my brother in law died this time last year he left a couple of bequests to branches of an international organisation. OH had been in touch with both before payments were made. Neither made any attempt to thank or even acknowledge the bequests. A very begrudging scrawled letter was eventually received from one after some prodding which OH had felt obliged to do as it was a youth group which had shut down during the first lockdown.

Good luck with the ‘conversation’. Will be thinking of you.

Good luck with your conversation Tawny. Just stay calm and tread gently. Make sure he realises you don’t want a child just to become a mother but you want HIS child because you love him and it will be a part of him.

I agree about the wills. We’ve done ours as percentages as well. I’d also say you should review them every few years as circumstances change.

Some charities, not all, can be really difficult. A lady in our Close died nearly 18 months ago. She had no close family and left her estate to be divided among a number of charities. This included the proceeds of the sale of her bungalow. Two buyers have dropped out because all the charities had to agree to accept their offers and were spending too long arguing among themselves. At this rate half the estate will end up in the solicitors’ pockets.

Vera ......

that sounds very awkward!1

Over here the Executor of the will. whether that be a relation, friend, or solicitor/lawyer, would be responsible for making the decision to accept an offer on the house, and then settling all bills including Executor's fees, and finally divvying up the money between the charities.

They charities wouldn't have any say in it!.

She must have actually left the house to them, instead of it saying something like "estate after sale of house and valuables and all bills settled" .... whatever the British legalese is.

A perfect example of how not to write your will.