I am assisting an executor with a will which has a recognised…

Hello,

The will only specifies exactly how the proceeds from the house and monies in bank are to be divided, including what happens if a child passes.

The will says "it is my earnest wish that my personal effects, jewellery, crockery, books, ornaments, photos, pictures, and special items of furntiture be shared amicably between the interested memebers of my family, of my children and my grandchildren and I give these with all my love".

Please let me know if you require any further infromation.

Thank you.

Hello again and thank you for your advice.

Just to be clear about a few things if possible:

1. When I said "The will only specifies exactly how the proceeds from the house and monies in bank are to be divided, including what happens if a child passes" - I meant that the instruction about what happens in the event that a child pre-deceases the testator is written as part of the instruction about how to divide the proceeds of the house and other monies, and as such does not necessarily seem to apply to the final part of the will "It is my earnest wish that my personal effects be amicably shared...". I think this is how you interpreted what I wrote, but I just want to be completely clear about this.

2. The current proposal is to "amicably share" the personal effects by allowing each family member to choose an item in a round-robin manner, based on seniority (descending age order). However, the grandchild whose mother pre-deceased the testator is claiming she should receive all the items directed to her mother in the codicil before this process begins. I understand you are suggesting this would not be so ? Again, I just want to be completely clear about this.

Thank you for your assistance,

Martin.

Good morning,

Thank you for your continuing interest in this matter. As you requested, I have attached scans of the Will and Codicil documents, each being 2 pages only. (I have also realised the term “testator”, which I used in our previous correspondence, refers to a male deceased, so from now on I will use what I understand is the correct term “testatrix”.)

We acknowledge the codicil contains various vague and possibly even conflicting statements, however it has been approved by the probate office as an “informal codicil” and so we are trying to make the best of it.

Anne is the (pre-deceased) oldest child of the testatrix. Fred and Patrick are the surviving children of the testatrix. Elizabeth and Ben are the children of Anne. Tina, Sam and Zoe are the children of Fred. Patrick has no children. Although Anne was older than Fred, Anne’s children are younger than Fred’s children. Elizabeth is the youngest of the grandchildren at about 33 years.

The current sticky point is that Elizabeth believes she is automatically entitled to everything that the codicil indicates is to pass to Anne (old amethyst broach, pair of diamond ear studs, single diamond pendant, little ruby red jug and matching red cake dish, Noritaki tea set), while most of the rest of the family believe in Anne’s absence these items return to the pool of items to be shared amicably among all family members. Ben seems to have no interest in these items, but supports his sister’s point of view.

Unfortunately, the items directed to Anne in the codicil and now claimed by Elizabeth, plus the items directed to Elizabeth by the codicil (her choice of pendants and necklaces being a large heart shaped silver pendant plus the crystal bowl, serviette rings and the Royal Albert tea set) seem to consume the lion’s share of the personal effects of any significant monetary value, and a fair slice of the personal effects of sentimental value to other family members. It is not thought that this was likely to have been the testatrix’s intent.

On the other hand, if we place the items directed to Anne by the codicil back into the general pool of items to be selected by family members based on seniority and a “round-robin” process, Elizabeth being the youngest is unlikely to get to choose any of Anne’s items, though arguably she will still do quite well due to the items the codicil directs to her directly.

So right now, the two “sides” of the argument seem prepared to “fight it out” legally. The executor and I are keen to obtain an understanding of how this is likely to be interpreted legally, how easy or difficult it might be to obtain a legal decision, and whether of not the executor should just “rule” on this matter arbitrarily.

I realise I am only paying you for $69 worth of answer – so I was surprised when you were willing to take on reading the scanned copies of the documents. I hope you can offer some final advice without this matter consuming too much more of your time.

Thanking you for your assistance,

Martin Irvine.

Hello again,

Have you been able to make any progress on this ?

Thanking you,

Martin Irvine.