Published on: 12th October 2020

To gift or not to gift ~ that is the question?

You are loving parents and treat your three children the same. You do the best you can for all three. For some reason one of them starts to go astray. You start to lose contact. You hear stories about alcohol or drug abuse and a gang. You realise after a period of time that two of your three children are everything that you had always hoped that they would be. However, one is effectively estranged and now has a criminal record.

You are thinking about your Wills. Do you leave your estate equally between the three? Should you exclude the estranged child? Should you provide more for your estranged child because his / her needs are greater than those of the other two children.

It will be of no comfort to you but we come across this sort of situation more often than you would think. You are not alone.

We have a number of ways of assisting you. It might be appropriate to look at a discretionary trust or a protective trust. Furthermore, you will need to consider the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. This Act gives certain categories of people the ability to apply to Court to challenge your Will if you do not provide (in their view sufficiently) for that person. One category is a child of the deceased. However, there are steps that can be taken to minimise the possibly of a claim being successful.

To gift or not to gift ~ that is the question? The worst thing is to do nothing. If you are in this difficult and emotionally draining situation please contact Casey & Associates and arrange for an appointment with a Consultant. Your requirements are unique and our solution will be unique for you.   

Please contact us using the contact page on our website here or telephone 01732 868190.

======================================

Our Covid-19 policy is now that if you require general information about our Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney or Trusts then we will carry out a telephone appointment. However, if you wish to give instructions to one of our Consultants we are offering a limited number of Face to Face appointments from 02 September 2020 in most of the areas we normally cover (subject to Government advice). To see the areas we normally cover please click here.

======================================

Back to all news