Will question

Redpunto

A member of the family passed away at the start of the year - a certain sum of money was to be left to another family member unless they were deceased, in which case the sum a third family member would inherit the sum.

The second family member unfortunately has passed away in the interim. The solicitor is in the process of applying for probate with revenue. I assume the sum of money left to the second family member will go to their next of kin as they were still alive at the death of the first family member and not be transferred to the third family member? Sorry for vagueness - trying to keep info to a minimum!!

coylemj

Redpunto wrote: »

I assume the sum of money left to the second family member will go to their next of kin as they were still alive at the death of the first family member and not be transferred to the third family member?

Yes, it will go to their estate and be disposed of according to the terms of their will. The clause leaving it to the third person is inoperative.

Peregrinus

Coylemj is likely correct, but it does depend on exactly what it says in the will. It's not uncommon for a will to say something like "I leave such-and-such to X, provided he survives me for 30 days". The intention is to cover a case where, say, the testator and X are both in a car crash, with the testator dying immediately and X dying shortly afterwards, but in fact the clause will also apply if the testator and X die from unrelated causes.

If the will does say something like this, then you need to find out exactly when X died. But if the will just says ""I leave such-and-such to X, provided he survives me", then it's enough that X was alive when the testator died.