Will a potential inheritance?

Indricotherium

Can a husband / wife will a their potential inheritance to their partner?

For example could a man will half a piece of land he hopes to inherit to his partner.

Alternatively, does a child's expected inheritance attach itself in any way to their partner, should they happen to predecease their parents?

StupidLikeAFox

Surely if somebody dies the will is going to be updated to remove their name? How would somebody leave something to a dead person?

Indricotherium

StupidLikeAFox wrote: »

Surely if somebody dies the will is going to be updated to remove their name? How would somebody leave something to a dead person?

Assuming it wasn't

coylemj

Indricotherium wrote: »

Can a husband / wife will a their potential inheritance to their partner?

For example could a man will half a piece of land he hopes to inherit to his partner.

No, because you can only will what is yours to bequeath. If the property owner is amenable to it, they could leave the land to (nephew) Tom with the provisio that in the event that Tom predeceases me, I leave the land to (Tom's wife) Ann.

Otherwise (if nephew Tom dies first an there is no such provision in the uncle's will), the land falls into the residue of the estate. There is a specific provision for a bequest to a child who predeceases a parent ....

Indricotherium wrote: »

Alternatively, does a child's expected inheritance attach itself in any way to their partner, should they happen to predecease their parents?

This could happen in the case of a child predeceasing a parent. If the parent leaves an asset to a child and that child predeceases the parent, the asset does not fall into the residue (as in the example above), instead it is treated as if the parent died first and the (already dead) child died immediately afterwards. In which case the child's will could bequeath the residue of his/her estate to the spouse and the asset left by the parent to the child would be covered by that provision.

coylemj

StupidLikeAFox wrote: »

Surely if somebody dies the will is going to be updated to remove their name? How would somebody leave something to a dead person?

Father and son are in a car involved in a car accident. Son is killed instantly, father dies the next day.

Peregrinus

There's two possible scenarios.

First, Andy makes a will leaving Blackacre to Bill. Bill knows about this. He in turn makes a will leaving Blackacre, "if it forms part of my estate", to Charlie.

Andy dies. Blackacre passes to Bill. Bill dies. Blackacre passes to Charlie. Job done.

Scenario B: the same facts as above, except that Bill dies before Andy. In that case, what happens will depend on the relationship between Andy and Bill.

If Andy is Bill's parent, grandparent, etc. and although Bill has died he is survived by children of his own, the presumption is that Andy would have wanted the bequest to Bill to stand, and to "flow through" to Bill's own heirs, meaning that the clause in Bill's will will take effect, and Blackacre will go to Charlie. But that presumption could be set aside by the wording of Andy's will, e.g. he might say "I leave Blackacre to Bill, if he survives me, but if not then to Dave". In that case Blackacre would go to Dave.

If Andy is not Bill's parent, grandparent, etc that presumption doesn't apply. If Bill is already dead, then the bequest to Bill is simply ignored, and the most likely outcome is that Blackacre passes to whoever is entitled to the residue of Andy's estate.

Mr. Incognito

The simple answer is no

Any gifts not crystalised before the date of death lapse

Indricotherium

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

The simple answer is no

Any gifts not crystalised before the date of death lapse

What if everyone dies intestate?

In the car crash example above, son dies followed by father shortly afterwards.

Assuming no other children, and no living spouse for the father, where does the spouse of the son come vs cousins and uncles of the son?

Mr. Incognito

Indricotherium wrote: »

What if everyone dies intestate?

In the car crash example above, son dies followed by father shortly afterwards.

Assuming no other children, and no living spouse for the father, where does the spouse of the son come vs cousins and uncles of the son?

If people die intestiate the provisions of the Succession Act apply

I think you are really confusing bequests under a will (Specific Bequest) and no will (Succession Act).

In either event an inheritence not yet received cannot be directed by a dead person to anyone

Call me Al

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

The simple answer is no

Any gifts not crystalised before the date of death lapse

I don't understand what you mean here.
Say grandmother has a will that gives her son a site on her land. The son, who has an (estranged) wife and children, dies. His estate is processed to his family as per his will eta with no mention of the site. Grandparent doesn't change her own will and later dies.
In an example such as this my family was told that the site that was to be given to the now deceased son still had to be passed to his estate because he had issue.
The gift in the will didn't lapse with the death of the son.
Eta are you referring to a gift in the son's will lapsing as opposed to the grandmother's?

Riskymove

Call me Al wrote: »

I don't understand what you mean here.

In your example, it is the Grandma's will that is relevant


You cannot leave a will for yourself that says "if some time in the future after my death, land I may have inherited before I died is willed it should go to my wife instead"

It isn't your land to bequeath to someone

Call me Al

And does it matter if the son in this case had children or not?
I'm thinking of a family home where the parents die and the house is to be split between the children.
Does the estate of a childless son/daughter who has died prior to the parents get an equal share in the family home? Or does it make any difference if the deceased son/daughter had children?

Call me Al

Call me Al wrote: »

And does it matter if the son in this case had children or not?
I'm thinking of a family home where the parents die and the house is to be split between the children.
Does the estate of a childless son/daughter who has died prior to the parents get an equal share in the family home? Or does it make any difference if the deceased son/daughter had children?

No need to answer.. a quick Google has answered my questions thanks.

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StupidLikeAFox wrote: »

Surely if somebody dies the will is going to be updated to remove their name? How would somebody leave something to a dead person?

it goes to their estate . A spouse would then Inherit it.