Nephew clarification in Will

[bombukei]

What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania

Hi i'm having trouble with my Aunt's will.

I am the executor of my Aunt's will and I am having trouble determining who's the "nieces and nephews" portion of her will. I'll try to be as clear and concise as possible...

From my Aunt's perspective, her will states this:

25% will go to my sister (which is my mom), if she predeceases me, this portion will be divided equally among my nieces and nephews.

25% will go to my brother-in-law (her late husband's brother). If he predeceases me, this portion will be divided equally among my nieces and nephews.

50% will be distributed equally to my nieces and nephews.


On my side of the family there is:

My Aunt (who we're referring to), my Mother and my Uncle = siblings
- There are 4 kids from my mom and 1 from my Uncle. So 5 nieces and nephews on my side.

My Aunt lost her husband and son. Her husband had a brother. This is the "brother-in-law" in the Will above. He has 3 kids. He believes his kids are to be included in the "my nieces and nephews" portions. My Aunt only intended this part to include my side of the family. Our lawyer was adament at first that I was correct, but since the brother-in-law stepped forward, our lawyer says he is right now. He said he will look into it since I disagreed.

In simplier terms:

There's 75% of the estate (since my mother died) directed towards "nieces and nephews" which i figure split 5 ways from my side of the family. The brother-in-law wants it split 8 ways to include his kids. Who is right here? Is there a difference between "blood" nieces and nephews since my Aunt stated "my nieces and nephews" in her Will.

Sorry for a long post. Its tough to explain in simple terms. Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[BelizeBreeze]

What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania

Hi i'm having trouble with my Aunt's will.

I am the executor of my Aunt's will and I am having trouble determining who's the "nieces and nephews" portion of her will. I'll try to be as clear and concise as possible...

From my Aunt's perspective, her will states this:

25% will go to my sister (which is my mom), if she predeceases me, this portion will be divided equally among my nieces and nephews.

25% will go to my brother-in-law (her late husband's brother). If he predeceases me, this portion will be divided equally among my nieces and nephews.

50% will be distributed equally to my nieces and nephews.


On my side of the family there is:

My Aunt (who we're referring to), my Mother and my Uncle = siblings
- There are 4 kids from my mom and 1 from my Uncle. So 5 nieces and nephews on my side.

My Aunt lost her husband and son. Her husband had a brother. This is the "brother-in-law" in the Will above. He has 3 kids. He believes his kids are to be included in the "my nieces and nephews" portions. My Aunt only intended this part to include my side of the family. Our lawyer was adament at first that I was correct, but since the brother-in-law stepped forward, our lawyer says he is right now. He said he will look into it since I disagreed.

In simplier terms:

There's 75% of the estate (since my mother died) directed towards "nieces and nephews" which i figure split 5 ways from my side of the family. The brother-in-law wants it split 8 ways to include his kids. Who is right here? Is there a difference between "blood" nieces and nephews since my Aunt stated "my nieces and nephews" in her Will.

Sorry for a long post. Its tough to explain in simple terms. Thanks in advance for the help!

Your mother's portion goes to the nieces and nephews (all of them)
The neices and nephews take an additional 50% per the will.

Your uncle retains his 25%.

The problem is that your aunt did not specifically stipulate the neices and nephews OF THE Relative but the general Nieces and nephews.

Therefore, your uncle is correct.

 

[bombukei]

Hi thanks for the reply...

I don't want to seem picky or a pest but i just wanted to clarify something. My Aunt's brother-in-law gets 25%, is that what you meant in your reply when you said "your uncle retains his 25%"..just a typo? I was just making sure if you confused my Uncle (which is my Aunt's sister) with her brother-in-law and his kids.

Just to make sure..she wanted only her siblings kids to be included in the "my nieces and nephews" portion and never intended the brother-in-law's kids to be included in that. If you use the general term "my nieces and nephews" that means nieces and nephews from your side of the family and your spouse's?

For some reason I always thought if I personally said "my nieces and nephews" I was referring to my brother's kids and not to my wife's siblings kids.

Sorry for being so technical (and/or stupid), this stuff is so nitpicky and detailed. I really appreciate the help.

 

[justalayman]

My Aunt's brother-in-law gets 25%, is that what you meant in your reply when you said "your uncle retains his 25%"..just a typo? I was just making sure if you confused my Uncle (which is my Aunt's sister) with her brother-in-law and his kids.

unless you have a strange family, your uncle is not your aunts sister.

25% will go to my brother-in-law (her late husband's brother). If he predeceases me, this portion will be divided equally among my nieces and nephews.

that means the BIL still gets his 25% (you wrote the info, nobody here did).

The BIL's children are your aunts neices and nephews. Unless stated as "blood" relatives or some other defining statement,, the BIL's children fall within "neices and nephews" of your deceased aunt.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

Hi thanks for the reply...

I don't want to seem picky or a pest but i just wanted to clarify something. My Aunt's brother-in-law gets 25%, is that what you meant in your reply when you said "your uncle retains his 25%"..just a typo? I was just making sure if you confused my Uncle (which is my Aunt's sister) with her brother-in-law and his kids.

Just to make sure..she wanted only her siblings kids to be included in the "my nieces and nephews" portion and never intended the brother-in-law's kids to be included in that. If you use the general term "my nieces and nephews" that means nieces and nephews from your side of the family and your spouse's?

For some reason I always thought if I personally said "my nieces and nephews" I was referring to my brother's kids and not to my wife's siblings kids.

Sorry for being so technical (and/or stupid), this stuff is so nitpicky and detailed. I really appreciate the help.

Regardless of what she "Wanted" the court will interpret the will in it's plain language.

BIL 25%
Nieces and nephews (ALL OF THEM) 75%