How to divide inheritance fairly between children in will

It is very hard for your aunt to predict the value of her house and the amount of her cash assets on the date of her death which is where the problem lies.

Daughter A lives at home and will as your aunt ages probably take on more and more of a caring role, cooking, cleaning, shopping, doctor and hospital appointments etc., although from what you say above I am now doubting this. So during her lifetime daughter A benefits from 0 housing costs. It seems she has little potential to build savings so maybe has marginal employment if anything.

Daughter B has probably benefited for being educated and now lives independently from her original family. But is a great help to her mother. She has said she is happy to inherit the non house assets of the estate when her mother dies, and happy for her sister to inherit the home.

I think your Aunt should take this at face value, and believe Daughter B.

So in her will
Leave the house and contents to Daughter A
Value house on date of death, leave cash to the value of the house to Daughter B.
If cash assets are less than value of house daughter B gets all cash assets.
Leave the residue of the estate equally to both daughters.

Perhaps your Aunt has some specific pieces, Jewellry, items, etc that have specific sentimental value to Daughter B, she should call these out specifically in the will and give to B.

And sure at the end of the day B may inherit less in absolute value than A and pay more tax but she also is probably very happy that A has a secure home for her old age too.
 
Really appericate your detailed reply Clamball, but just to clarify from my last post. It is daughter B that helps the most, and Aunt wants to be fair to her and have her full share. It was not agreed that daughter A gets the house if it is the only asset, that only happens if daughter B gets equal value.

To clarify daughter B agrees that if its the only asset her sister stays in the house with joint ownership and that sister paying the running costs. This is not the desired outcome by all. So it looks like there is no option to cover my Aunts original wishes.
 
Last edited:
If you look up RIP you will see removal from her Daughters/sons Residents/nursing home/hospital on 0/0/2025 and arriving at a church 50/100/ 200km away ,where the deceased person left there own home where the has family to live out there final years with or near a son/Daughter who they felt cared for them the best,
There are several warning signs the parent may have been over protective of the Daughter which long term did the daughter living at home no favour' and may struggle to care for the mother in later life as well as her sister who lives away from home,

just one example she wants to protect one daughter from paying tax at the expense of her other daughter who appears to be more caring towards her mother,(Daughter living away has no problem with her sister getting more

Now If you look at it the other way around would the less caring daughter If She Was The One living away from home be as generous to her sister,

(Less caring I know is the wrong word to use just using it to make a point,)

Daughter living at home who already looking for the biggest slice of the cake and already seen by parent as not the most caring of the 2 daughters may or may not be the best to look after Her Mother in her final years,
 
Last edited:

Okay, I had felt there was a strong desire from your aunt that daughter A continue to have a home to live in after she dies but if joint ownership of the house with the diktat that daughter A pay all running costs is one potential scenario then I don’t think that is a good option at all. It would lead to potential feuds over simple costs perhaps in 20 years time etc.

The simplest solution, without the Aunt wondering about tax or homing a daughter is to say house to be sold and whole estate divided equally between both siblings. Daughter A to have the option to purchase house at market value. In this way Daughter A can still have a house to live in if she uses her 50% of cash inherited to “purchase the house”. She just has to transfer value to her sister.

1st option

House value €500K
Cash €500K

Daughter A gives her €250K cash to sister and takes house at €500K. Daughter A ends up with house, €500K, sister with cash, €500K

Second option
House value €400K
Cash €600K

Daughter A gives €200 K of cash she would inherited to sister, to buy out her share of house. Daughter ends up with house, €400K and cash €100K and sister ends up with €500K cash.

Third option
House value €600K
Cash €400K

Daughter A will need to find €100K from somewhere and gives her sister €300K to buy house. She ends up with house €600K and €100K debt, sister ends up with €500K. If daughter A cannot raise the loan the house sold and both end up with €500K cash and daughter A uses it to purchase a new property.

The solicitor can word it to ensure all three options are clear.
 
Thank you Clamball, appreciate your time in writing your reply, the desire is that hopefully daughter A gets enough inheritance to own the house fully. Brendan had mentioned something similar, with different outcomes. My Aunt did not realise she could say A to have the value to own the house and B to have the value of the house. And add in also if there are not enough assests what she wants to happen, thank you.
 
Sorry DannyBoyD I should have mentioned you here too. I was trying to say and badly at that, there seems to be two ways to word the will, that the house should be sold and split everthing equally and the other option is to word the will to include if there are the full assets, only parial assets and only the house remains.
These option would make the sitiuation fair to both parties. Thank you to everyone for your input, much appreciated.
 
Could anyone tell me how to go about finding where to go about estate planning please, is there a regulation body this would fall under? When looking for a solicitior to draw up a will are there any pointers on the type of solicitor you would recommend please.
 
Ask your solicitor will recommend an accountant he has used before to you,
I expect an accountant to be better at estate planning than a solicitor,
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register