My daughter is divorced and has made a will leaving everything to her 10-year-old son, with me and my sister to act as trustees until he is 18. She is worried that if we were both to die, or if my grandson failed to reach 18, her estate would go either to his father or his fathers children by a previous marriage. Should she add a codicil to take this into account?
Your daughter simply needs to make a new will stating what she wishes to happen to her property if for any reason her son cannot inherit. As things stand your daughters will would fail if her son failed to reach 18, in which case her estate would go to her next of kin, which may well be you. It wouldn’t include her ex-husband but it could include half brothers or sisters.