Willing future assets

Courtesy Flush

This is just a hypothetical question
If a person is due to inherit some property in the future, can they themselves make a will with that in mind? For example Mary and her sister Jane are going to equally inherit a property from their mother. Both Mary and Jane have families of their own. If Mary dies prior to her mother so she never offically inherited anything, would her share in the property be passed to her children ? Or would they be entitled to anything by law ? would Jane inherit the full property ?

Valentine1

Courtesy Flush wrote: »

This is just a hypothetical question
If a person is due to inherit some property in the future, can they themselves make a will with that in mind? For example Mary and her sister Jane are going to equally inherit a property from their mother. Both Mary and Jane have families of their own. If Mary dies prior to her mother so she never offically inherited anything, would her share in the property be passed to her children ? Or would they be entitled to anything by law ? would Jane inherit the full property ?

No, Mary's children will only inherit Mary's share in the house if their Grandmother's Will specifically directs that Mary's share in the house is to pass to her children in the event that Mary predeceases her mother. Otherwise Jane inherits the entire house.

coylemj

Courtesy Flush wrote: »

If Mary dies prior to her mother so she never offically inherited anything, would her share in the property be passed to her children ? Or would they be entitled to anything by law ? would Jane inherit the full property ?

It totally depends on the mother's will, grandchildren have no automatic entitlement in the event that the person makes a will.

If the mother died intestate, the estate would be divided among the two daughters i.e. 50/50, assuming they both outlive her. If Mary predeceased the mother, her children would share Mary's half of the estate and Jane would inherit the other half. If both Mary and Jane predeceased their mother, the estate would be divided equally among the grandchildren.


(3) If an intestate dies leaving issue and no spouse, his estate shall be distributed among the issue in accordance with subsection (4).


(4) If all the issue are in equal degree of relationship to the deceased the distribution shall be in equal shares among them; if they are not, it shall be per stirpes.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1965/en/act/pub/0027/sec0067.html#sec67

234

Courtesy Flush wrote: »

This is just a hypothetical question
If a person is due to inherit some property in the future, can they themselves make a will with that in mind? For example Mary and her sister Jane are going to equally inherit a property from their mother. Both Mary and Jane have families of their own. If Mary dies prior to her mother so she never offically inherited anything, would her share in the property be passed to her children ? Or would they be entitled to anything by law ? would Jane inherit the full property ?

The relevant principle in this area generally is that wills speak from death.

This has two implications here. First, you can will future assets generally, but only as part of the residue of your estate. You aren't confined to that assets that you are entitled to at the time of making the will.

The second thing is that because a will speaks from death, none of the beneficiaries have any entitlements until that event. So while they may be named as the beneficiaries of certain assets under a will, this generates no legal or equitable entitlements until death. This is for obvious practical reasons, the testator could always change the will, named legatees can die, etc.

Courtesy Flush

234 wrote: »

The relevant principle in this area generally is that wills speak from death.

This has two implications here. First, you can will future assets generally, but only as part of the residue of your estate. You aren't confined to that assets that you are entitled to at the time of making the will.

The second thing is that because a will speaks from death, none of the beneficiaries have any entitlements until that event. So while they may be named as the beneficiaries of certain assets under a will, this generates no legal or equitable entitlements until death. This is for obvious practical reasons, the testator could always change the will, named legatees can die, etc.

So in this case Mary could make a will naming her children as beneficiaries and they would inherit her share upon the grandmothers death ?

Valentine1

Courtesy Flush wrote: »

So in this case Mary could make a will naming her children as beneficiaries and they would inherit her share upon the grandmothers death ?

No as Mary has no interest in the grandmother's house until the Grandmother dies. This is because the Grandmother's Will also speaks from death, If Mary predeceases her mother she cannot inherit anything from her.

coylemj

Valentine1 wrote: »

If Mary predeceases her mother she cannot inherit anything from her.

+1 It would be up to Mary's mother to state in her will what is to happen the half share that Mary would have inherited in the event that Mary predeceases her mother. The mother can either decide to leave her assets to her surviving children only (so Jane would get everything), or she could specify that in the event that one or both of her daughters predeceased her, the parent's half share was to be split among her children - or any other method of distribution.

If the mother made a will simply saying that she left half of her estate to each daughter with no provision as to what was to happen if one or both of them predeceased her and Mary did predecease her, this is what would happen......

Jane would get the half share she was given in the will. As Mary is dead and cannot inherit, the half of the estate she was supposed to inherit would be distributed as if the mother had died intestate so Jane would get half of it (one quarter of the whole) and Mary's children would share the other quarter. So Jane would end up with 3/4 of the estate.

That's why it's best to get a solicitor to draw up the will, they should draft a will which covers all eventualities.

Claw Hammer

coylemj wrote: »

+1 It would be up to Mary's mother to state in her will what is to happen the half share that Mary would have inherited in the event that Mary predeceases her mother. The mother can either decide to leave her assets to her surviving children only (so Jane would get everything), or she could specify that in the event that one or both of her daughters predeceased her, the parent's half share was to be split among her children - or any other method of distribution.

If the mother made a will simply saying that she left half of her estate to each daughter with no provision as to what was to happen if one or both of them predeceased her and Mary did predecease her, this is what would happen......

Jane would get the half share she was given in the will. As Mary is dead and cannot inherit, the half of the estate she was supposed to inherit would be distributed as if the mother had died intestate so Jane would get half of it (one quarter of the whole) and Mary's children would share the other quarter. So Jane would end up with 3/4 of the estate.

That's why it's best to get a solicitor to draw up the will, they should draft a will which covers all eventualities.

If Mary died with dependent children her share of the estate would pass into her estate. It may in fact be inherited by her widower and not her children or indeed some other beneficiary of her estate. This is provided by Section 98 of the Succession Act 1965.


SUCCESSION ACT, 1965


98.—Where a person, being a child or other issue of the testator to whom any property is given (whether by a devise or bequest or by the exercise by will of any power of appointment, and whether as a gift to that person as an individual or as a member of a class) for any estate or interest not determinable at or before the death of that person, dies in the lifetime of the testator leaving issue, and any such issue of that person is living at the time of the death of the testator, the gift shall not lapse, but shall take effect as if the death of that person had happened immediately after the death of the testator, unless a contrary intention appears from the will