Grandma’s House, the television comedy, saw Simon inherit £12,000 from his grandfather. The young man clearly saw this as a life changing amount, that would allow him to leave home and write for a living. By the end of the programme, his scheming Aunt had secured some for her son, who had been born after the Will was written, and a cut for herself and his mother’s financially challenged fiancé was borrowing almost all of the rest without seemingly much hope of his being able to pay it back.
This raises the issue that we should all check our Wills are up to date and do not accidently favour grandchildren simply because they were born before the Will was written. It would also apply to nephews and nieces, godchildren or, even harder to explain and more likely to cause distress, children.
It might be interesting to see what amount could be life changing, especially for younger beneficiaries, and even whether this money as a lifetime gift would allow you to have the benefit of seeing them make use and appreciate this. Pauline Davies, Wills and Probate Solicitor
