Mikulas: How can I stop my kids contesting the amount they receive from my estate?

My dad and mum came from big families altogether that had 19 siblings dad’s family was the poorest so larger than mum’s even if dad’s surname was ImRich … Mum’s dad owned a pub so her side of the family always knew how to distill spirits so my Christmases were filled with many aunties and uncles as well as cousins. 

It is amazing how memories live in us wherever we go … I remember those Christmases so clearly that sometimes I doubt myself doubt my memory

The Story of “The Wexford Carol”

Edith Zimmerman  Dec 06, 2023

Last night my family listened to “The Wexford Carol” after my husband asked if I knew about its backstory. I didn’t, but I learned that while the song is centuries old, it was only relatively recently transcribed. 

There’s an affecting version of that story in a recent post on America: The Jesuit Review, by Maggi Van Dorn. “I have learned to take Christmas carols seriously,” she writes, “and to anticipate the epiphanies they may bear in my spiritual life as I contemplate them anew. […] As for ‘The Wexford Carol,’ it quietly survived over 400 years of British colonial suppression and was first put to paper in the small Irish village of Enniscorthy,” where she traveled to ask locals about the song. 

The above Alison Krauss and Yo-Yo Ma rendition appears on Ma’s 2008 holiday album, Songs of Joy & Peace. Loreena McKennitt also has a beautiful version, as does the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which made a cheesy music video that also made me cry.

How can I stop my kids contesting the amount they receive from my estate?

It may not be possible to stop a person contesting your will – if they feel they have been aggrieved, they may well seek legal advice. But there are many things you can do when drawing up a will to make contesting it difficult.

One approach is to hold assists as joint tenants (with another person), in which case the asset would automatically go to the survivor in the event of the will maker’s death, irrespective of the terms of the will. This is usually done with shares and property, and is not a one size fits all strategy.

Another approach is to give money away long before you die – you will have the enjoyment of watching the recipient enjoy the money, and provided this was not done very close to death, could be safe from challenge.

A third option is to use insurance bonds – these sit outside the will and cannot be challenged. Furthermore, they pass to the beneficiary free of capital gains tax.

If a challenge to your will is even a remote possibility, you should be taking advice from a solicitor who specialises in estate planning sooner rather than later. They will almost certainly recommend you include reasons in your will why you have chosen certain beneficiaries and not others.