How should I leave my Estate to my children?

If you have children under the age of 18 years, your Will needs to set out what will happen to them if you die before they turn 18 as well as who is responsible for looking after anything you leave them.

For our purposes there are three roles that matter: executors, trustees and guardians. These can all be filled by the same people but the responsibilities of each are different.

Your executors are responsible for the financial aspects of your estate: applying for probate, closing down bank accounts, paying any liabilities and distributing the rest to the beneficiaries in accordance with your Will. Your executors will also be the trustees of any Trust included in your Will, which we expand on below.

Your guardians are responsible for looking after your children day to day.

In the vast majority of cases, a guardian can only be appointed by a person with parental responsibility or by someone who themselves has already been appointed as a guardian.

If a child’s parents are married or in a civil partnership when the child is born, both parents automatically have parental responsibility. If not, the mother still does automatically, but the father would only have it in certain circumstances, e.g. if he is named on the birth certificate or he goes on to marry the mother.

We would strongly suggest including a clause in your Will in which you appoint guardians for your minor children. This appointment would take effect when both parents have died and would last until the child’s 18^th birthday.

For practical purposes, it is best if both parents appoint the same guardians in their respective Wills.

The position is more complicated where there are stepparents; in that case we would highly recommend discussing this with us at a meeting.

As mentioned above, when a minor inherits someone’s Estate, it must be held on Trust for them until they are at least 18.

For a Trust to work properly, there need to be at least 2 trustees so this is the minimum number you should appoint. It is possible to appoint just one, but then that person would need to appoint a second trustee to act alongside them. This may not be someone you approve of, so if you want to retain some control you should appoint at least two executors/trustees.

You may not want your children to become absolutely entitled to their share of your Estate the moment they turn 18. Other common ages you can specify are 21 and 25, because there are often inheritance tax benefits to Trusts where the children are entitled to their share before they turn 25. Ultimately, though, it is entirely up to you. Whichever age you choose, your trustees will still be able to let them have some of the money before then, if e.g. they need it for school fees or private medical care.

That said, there are several other types of Trusts available, and we would be more than happy to discuss these with you to find the one that best suits your aims.

For further advice and assistance please contact our Wills, Trusts and Probate team on 01604 828282 / 01908 660966 or email info@franklins-sols.co.uk.