Your residuary estate is anything left in your estate that you have not already specifically dealt with elsewhere in your Will.
If you have dealt with the majority of your estate in cash gifts, gifts of assets and personal possessions and gifts to charities, there may not be very much left in your residuary estate. But it is still important to include a residuary beneficiary so that anything you have missed can be distributed according to your wishes; otherwise it would be distributed according to the intestacy rules.
Alternatively, if you are leaving only a few specific or cash gifts, or none at all, then most or all of your estate will be distributed in accordance with the gift of residuary estate clause in your Will.
The interview allows you to select from a number of options of who you would like your residuary estate to pass to your death. The options that appear depend on your status. For example, if you are married with children, options relating to your spouse and children will appear.
(Note, however, that if you have decided to leave your home to your spouse or partner for their lifetime, the option to include your spouse or partner as a residuary beneficiary will not appear. If you still want them to share in your residuary estate, then special drafting will be required. You should seek expert legal advice from one of our panel firms.)
The options
Broadly the options can be divided into:
gifts to your spouse, civil partner, or other permanent partner
one or more specific named beneficiaries
your children/grandchildren
a class of beneficiaries (e.g. siblings, nieces and nephews etc).
Some combinations of these may also be available, depending on your circumstances.
Some of the options refer to making a gift to one person or group and "then" another. This means that if the first one can't inherit, then the next one will do so. For example, "Your spouse then other beneficiaries" means that your spouse would receive the whole estate, but if he/she had already died, it would go to other beneficiaries that you would specify.
If you choose a gift to one specific beneficiary (e.g. your spouse, civil partner or a named individual), you will then be asked whether you would like your residuary estate to pass outright to this person or for them to be entitled only to the income from your residuary estate. Choose income if you want them to enjoy the assets in your estate for the rest of their lives, with whatever is left passing to other beneficiaries on their death.
Your Will For Good does not allow you to have as a residuary beneficiary any person to whom you are leaving a life interest in property. If you want an arrangement like that you need to seek expert legal advice from one of our panel firms.
If you choose a gift to one specific beneficiary, you will also be asked, in the event that beneficiary fails to survive you, but has children of their own, whether you would like your estate to pass down to their children and at what age.
Gift to children and grandchildren
If you choose to pass your residuary estate to your children and/or grandchildren (either as the primary beneficiaries of the estate or in the event that the primary beneficiary (e.g. your spouse or civil partner) does not survive you), you will need to decide at what age you would like them to inherit the assets.
The options are age 18, 21 or 25. There may be inheritance tax consequences of keeping assets in trust beyond the age of 18.