Wills for the childless
Discussion
I know there's quite a few childless people/couples on PH so was curious as to other opinions/ideas
Reaching middle-age, the OH and I don't have children and will not have any.
Attention turned to a will some time ago when we realised what we had was now actually worth something, rather than just being a pile of debt.
There began the question of who to actually leave everything to. For most people, the default is to leave everything to your children. We, obviously, can't do that.
I have a sister who is a lot younger than me, but I rarely see her (twice in 6 years I think)
My brother is older, but again we're not particularly close. He has a daughter (our only niece/nephew by blood) but again, we don't see her that much due to geography.
My OH has a brother. He is unmarried but lives with his partner. She has a boy and girl, both early teens.
We have no beef with our family and they're all very nice but, for various reasons, there's no-one who feels close enough to be "leave-my-estate-to-you" family......
In terms of younger family, that's it. Our original wishes were to leave everything to our parents, but as time has gone on, we're conscious that they're all in their 70s and I'm now more concerned about subsequent IHT exposure when something happens to them after us (which, in the grand scheme of things, won't be too far away)
We've made a stipulation to charity in our existing will, but going further with that seems a bit.....impersonal. I'm not sure I want my life's work to be coldly taken and sold to buy stationery and re-decorate their office, if that makes sense?
My main goal, if I have one, is to ensure the Government gets as little of it as possible - they've had their pound of flesh off me, for sure.
However, I'm curious as to what other childless folk have set up?
Reaching middle-age, the OH and I don't have children and will not have any.
Attention turned to a will some time ago when we realised what we had was now actually worth something, rather than just being a pile of debt.
There began the question of who to actually leave everything to. For most people, the default is to leave everything to your children. We, obviously, can't do that.
I have a sister who is a lot younger than me, but I rarely see her (twice in 6 years I think)
My brother is older, but again we're not particularly close. He has a daughter (our only niece/nephew by blood) but again, we don't see her that much due to geography.
My OH has a brother. He is unmarried but lives with his partner. She has a boy and girl, both early teens.
We have no beef with our family and they're all very nice but, for various reasons, there's no-one who feels close enough to be "leave-my-estate-to-you" family......
In terms of younger family, that's it. Our original wishes were to leave everything to our parents, but as time has gone on, we're conscious that they're all in their 70s and I'm now more concerned about subsequent IHT exposure when something happens to them after us (which, in the grand scheme of things, won't be too far away)
We've made a stipulation to charity in our existing will, but going further with that seems a bit.....impersonal. I'm not sure I want my life's work to be coldly taken and sold to buy stationery and re-decorate their office, if that makes sense?
My main goal, if I have one, is to ensure the Government gets as little of it as possible - they've had their pound of flesh off me, for sure.
However, I'm curious as to what other childless folk have set up?
Our niece and nephew will get something, although as we don't even get a Christmas or birthday card or message off them, that amount is rapidly decreasing. My best mates son will get a few quid as he is a good lad and always remembers our birthdays (small things matter). The local animal sanctuary will get a decent sum as we regularly take donations to them, and they do amazing work. The Samaritans will get some too, but other than than I can't think of anyone worthy of our money !
Dave Hedgehog said:
in your situation i would have everything sold and the money split equally with all the nieces and nephews thats not going to charity, held in trust till they are 18
I have told my Mother and Step Father that I will be disappointed if they have any money left when they shuffle of this mortal coil. It should all be spent before then in the pubs and restaurants of Exmoor. Marks and Spencer will probably get a chunk of it too 
This is something I need to set up at some point too.
My sister and my brother in law each have 2 kids (aged 10 to 21) so the sensible option is leave it to the 4 of them, but of course the complication is statistically my wife is likely to outlast me, so do I leave everything to her to distribute when she dies, or some to nieces/nephew and the rest to to her to distribute, or just to my sisters kids and my wife on the assumption that she's not likely to be in that close contact with my side of the family without me...etc.
My sister and my brother in law each have 2 kids (aged 10 to 21) so the sensible option is leave it to the 4 of them, but of course the complication is statistically my wife is likely to outlast me, so do I leave everything to her to distribute when she dies, or some to nieces/nephew and the rest to to her to distribute, or just to my sisters kids and my wife on the assumption that she's not likely to be in that close contact with my side of the family without me...etc.
Same position as me/us. We are quite well off and have so far put £50k into a trust for our great neices. If more of the rugrats come along we will do the same for them. At the mo, our very simple wills leave the decision to the other who isnt dead yet BUT we should decide what and to who soon I think. Trouble for us if we only have 2 neices with 1 brat each. ( see above) and they will be very very well of when their parents go....do they need another 2 mill???
We have no children within my small family apart from my cousin's 3 children who are too far removed from me.
Currently it goes 50% to my brother and 50% to the local hospice.
If my brother isn't here it goes 90% to the local hospice and 10% to the local charity we got our cats from.
They both do amazing work and I'm happy for them to have it.
Currently it goes 50% to my brother and 50% to the local hospice.
If my brother isn't here it goes 90% to the local hospice and 10% to the local charity we got our cats from.
They both do amazing work and I'm happy for them to have it.
The irony is that I am also single and childless and will have to find some people to give my s
te to when I die
They desperately need a new kitchen. They have the money to do it. But it seems they are more fixated on leaving as much as possible to myself and my sibling. Forgoing any kind of holiday or even just a new TV!
Its like they forget that the government will quite happily take a chunk off us anyway since they have a house worth more than the average!
te to when I die Red9zero said:
I have told my Mother and Step Father that I will be disappointed if they have any money left when they shuffle of this mortal coil. It should all be spent before then in the pubs and restaurants of Exmoor. Marks and Spencer will probably get a chunk of it too
I've said the same to my parents.They desperately need a new kitchen. They have the money to do it. But it seems they are more fixated on leaving as much as possible to myself and my sibling. Forgoing any kind of holiday or even just a new TV!
Its like they forget that the government will quite happily take a chunk off us anyway since they have a house worth more than the average!
We haven't quite made a plan apart from both being insured so that if one of us pegs it the mortgage and everything gets paid off, mostly because I don't see the point in having anything left when you're gone if you don't actually have anyone to leave it to.
The optimal plan is to die on a cruise ship with a mountain of debt.
The optimal plan is to die on a cruise ship with a mountain of debt.
To be clear, we have a stipulation that if one of us dies, everything goes to the other. That's obvious I think and, frankly, as long as I know everything goes to my wife if I die first, I will not be in a position to care who she leaves it all to.
Our primary concern I guess is if something happens to us at the same time. Car crash, for example.
She's a lovely girl, but leaving an estate worth hundreds of thousands of pounds to someone I barely know, just because she's my niece, seems........off.
I should also clarify that our full intention is to spend as much of it as we can before we shift off this mortal coil. But seeing my parents for example, who have a sizeable pension pot but struggle to spend it due to health reasons, that's not always an option.
Our primary concern I guess is if something happens to us at the same time. Car crash, for example.
Dave Hedgehog said:
in your situation i would have everything sold and the money split equally with all the nieces and nephews thats not going to charity, held in trust till they are 18
That's just it. We have one 'blood' niece, she's in her early twenties. My brother and her mother split when she was small. I see her maybe once a year at Christmas. She's a lovely girl, but leaving an estate worth hundreds of thousands of pounds to someone I barely know, just because she's my niece, seems........off.
I should also clarify that our full intention is to spend as much of it as we can before we shift off this mortal coil. But seeing my parents for example, who have a sizeable pension pot but struggle to spend it due to health reasons, that's not always an option.
I received an entirely unexpected and undeserved sum* from my great aunt who divided her estate among all her living relatives. Which was nice!
So I'd do that. Maybe if there were only a few who aren't that close and it was a decent sum I'd make it £25k (say) and give the rest to charity.
If it went over the IHT threshold I'd give enough to charity to make sure the government didn't get a slice.
(*as in she featured in my childhood and I'd been to her 80th birthday family gathering but otherwise had nothing to do with her.)
So I'd do that. Maybe if there were only a few who aren't that close and it was a decent sum I'd make it £25k (say) and give the rest to charity.
If it went over the IHT threshold I'd give enough to charity to make sure the government didn't get a slice.
(*as in she featured in my childhood and I'd been to her 80th birthday family gathering but otherwise had nothing to do with her.)
Muzzer79 said:
That's just it. We have one 'blood' niece, she's in her early twenties. My brother and her mother split when she was small. I see her maybe once a year at Christmas.
She's a lovely girl, but leaving an estate worth hundreds of thousands of pounds to someone I barely know, just because she's my niece, seems........off.
Think of it as a random act of kindness? She's a lovely girl, but leaving an estate worth hundreds of thousands of pounds to someone I barely know, just because she's my niece, seems........off.
Me and Mrs ZS are in a similar position. We have nieces on her side, 2 live the other side of the world and we have only ever met a couple of times. The other 2 are local, the younger has learning difficulties so some sort of windfall would probably really help her, but at the moment the other is particularly difficult and we're loath to really help her out, but appreciate things might change.
Muzzer79 said:
We've made a stipulation to charity in our existing will, but going further with that seems a bit.....impersonal. I'm not sure I want my life's work to be coldly taken and sold to buy stationery and re-decorate their office, if that makes sense?
I think the idea of breaking it up between lots of smaller, local charities is perhaps the way to go, especially those well established. Rightly or wrongly, my perception is that more of the money would be used directly rather than going to waste.What about close friends? Who do you love the most? Who do you spend most time with just because you enjoy it? Who makes you feel happy, safe, loved, joyful, relaxed. Who has helped you the most in life, bailed you out, been generous to you?
I agree, I think in your position it wouldn't be going to family just because they're family. I'd look at who is deserving, and if anyone in that list happens to be family as well, then great. Forget the money, just make a list of who your favourite people are and why.
I agree, I think in your position it wouldn't be going to family just because they're family. I'd look at who is deserving, and if anyone in that list happens to be family as well, then great. Forget the money, just make a list of who your favourite people are and why.
Muzzer79 said:
She's a lovely girl, but leaving an estate worth hundreds of thousands of pounds to someone I barely know, just because she's my niece, seems........off.
I'd say leaving something to her (£50k? £100k?) would fulfil your familial duties & the rest to smaller local charities - ones that really help the local community eg small hospices, food banks etc. I'd also suggest you allocate them fixed sums rather than a percentage as there are numerous cases of charities setting lawyers onto executors to prove they got the absolute maximum for a house sale, for instance. Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff