Wills and children

[JungleJim]

Got a baby on the way, so thoughts have turned to planning for unforseen events. I/we need to make a will.

In the event that only one of us dies wishes are simply that the other gets everything.

But what if we both die leaving behind the child. Do we have to nominate who takes charge of the kid, and what happens if we don't specify?
Also, the question of money. We don't have lots of it, but a couple of life insurance payouts should provide enough to keep the child in clothes, food etc and leave a modest amount of money for when it turns 18/21. Whats the financial set up we should specify in the will (i.e not a fund we set up now, but in the event of our deaths something that the aggregated estate would be put into).

cheers all

[Beardy10]

It's really quite complicated....I actually have my will on my desk at home waiting to be signed.

If you both die you need to appoint a guardian and ideally a second and third choice. As the baby is just on the way (congratulations BTW!) you need to take into account the fact that these guardians need to be around for the next twenty years or so (god forbid something could happen to them).

I would say you also need to gift the money to your child (or potential children !?!?!) in the form of a trust and thus appoint trustees also with second and third choices (a couple of reliable money savvy friends NOT the guardians) to administer the trust. The trustees can give the guardians money to help bring your children up but also act as a check and balance....with the best will in the world there is obviously a potential massive conflict if the guardian/trustee is the same person. You can set the trust up to distribute at any age you see fit...18 might not be the right age. I have set mine up so that they don't get it all in one go........

I also wouldn't assume that it's right to gift 100% to your partner is they succeed you. If your house/estate is worth more than the IHT threshold it can be worth giving say your half of the house to your children....your partner can still live there and enjoy it for their lifetime.

[Tiggsy]

Expert here....go see a solicitor. What you want to do is very simple and very cheap. There's some pretty sucky advice on this thread already so before long it will be hard to tell good from bad. Go see a pro. All you need ponder before hand is who looks after the kid if you are both dead and who looks after the money (oh, and how old will the kid be when they get to spend the money - default is 18 (adult) but that may be daft if they are a crack abusing loon.

[mcflurry]

November is Will Aid month, so some charities get some money, and you can get a cheaper solicitor

[Tuscanless Ali]

Beardy10 said:

I also wouldn't assume that it's right to gift 100% to your partner is they succeed you. If your house/estate is worth more than the IHT threshold it can be worth giving say your half of the house to your children....your partner can still live there and enjoy it for their lifetime.

We have left ours to our children, to be held in trust until the survivor dies, more to safeguard their inheritance if the survivor remarries than anything else, but not signed the will yet as still not sure if we are doing the right thing. If the survivor then wants to move they will have to get permission from the trustees.