Disinheriting Family Members

…It’s Not Easy

Disinheriting family members is surprisingly common. But in this “compo” no win no fee age, the family members you are disinheriting will increasingly be encouraged to take your estate to Court as soon as you die. Until you have died, disinheriting family members, the disinherited cannot do anything – they haven’t been disinherited yet!

There are many reasons for disinheriting family members, some of which are permanent, others may not be.  For example, you may have a child with an unpleasant, greedy husband or wife. A sudden and significant inheritance might well cause the person concerned to decide that now would be a highly profitable time to go for a divorce – half of that extra cash would be most welcome!

You might have a child who is easily influence, or a wastrel, an alcoholic or a drug taker, or bankrupt, or on benefits all of whom can be helped or excluded.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could set up an estate plan which was flexible enough to deal with these sorts of situations, however unexpected they might be? Better still if the family could ensure that that the family member could have the benefit of the inheritance – but not have to part with any of it in the event of a divorce. The mechanism is simply to ensure that the Trustees of the Probate Home Protection Plan have the authority to lend rather than give the inheritance to the at-risk family member. Considering the divorce rate is over 30%, the cost of such flexibility could repay itself hundreds of time over on even a modest estate. And going through this site, you will see that the Legacy Protection Plan has many other advantages too! Why not ask for details?

The Legacy Protection Plan allows the successful disinheriting of family members because it takes the assets within the Trust outside of your estate for inheritance. (But not  necessarily for Inheritance Tax purposes. We’ll discuss that aspect too.)

The Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975 is the basis on which disinherited family members – and others – can claim against the estate of the deceased. It used to be fairly easy to prevent such claims – or at least plan a good defence in advance. However, Judges have used their discretion of late where Wills have had the intention of disinheriting family members and others. The results have mean that a review of such planning is essential. If you are in that situation, and your professional advisers have not informed you of the changes, please feel free to contact us for advice. A short chat will be free.

Disinheriting Family Members

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