Beneficiaries
Beneficiaries are those people specified in your Will to inherit
your property, possessions or money after you pass away.
It is important to choose your
beneficiaries carefully. You can name b
oth people and/or organisations as
beneficiaries and there is no limit to how many you can have. You
can name people as beneficiaries of gifts, which can be items of
sentimental value or sums of money, or residual beneficiaries,
which will inherit the remainder of the estate after gifts have
been transferred and debts settled. It is also important to
consider what you would like to happen if any of your beneficiaries
die before you do, and these provisions can also be included in
your Will.
It is essential that you list carefully the people whom you wish
to benefit in your Will and to specify whether you intend to
exclude any illegitimate children or stepchildren. It is also
important for you to be specific as to who are your nephews,
nieces, uncles and aunts, if they are included in your Will. This
is crucial as to not be misleading, nor to leave anyone out whom
you wish to benefit from your Will.
In the event of a beneficiary who is
not your direct descendant dying before you, the gift will
lapse. However, you can make a provision in your Will that
if a beneficiary does die before you, the gift will then go to
that beneficiary's children. If your own children are meant to
receive a gift under your Will but die before you, leaving their
own children, the gift you had intended to leave will go
automatically to those children (your grandchildren), unless you
make a specific provision to state otherwise.
In the event of a cash gift or specific item named, such as
'£320 to James Turner' no problem will arise as the gift will
become part of the residual estate if the beneficiary dies before
you. If the person who is supposed to inherit the residue of
your estate dies before you, then the intestacy rules will apply as
partial intestacy of the Will (that is, the part of the Will that
is not dispersed). It is therefore recommended that you name a
substitute beneficiary for the residue of your estate to avoid
having to apply the intestacy rules. If however, the beneficiary
were to die after you without having received the gift or money,
the gift will still be paid to their estate.
If you decide that your spouse, children or any other person
financially dependent on you should inherit nothing or only a small
amount after your death, they can apply to the court for a
reasonable provision to be made for them out of what you have left.
Some people can be completely excluded from your estate, because
for example a spouse has already been given a house or a large sum
of money or is financially completely self-sufficient. A sure way
of preventing people from making a successful claim against your
Will is to make sure that your Will is very clear and
well-planned.