I am about to wind up a life interest trust created from my father's will (dec'd 1985) following the death of the lifetime beneficiary (his second wife). The original ultimate beneficiaries were my father's two children, who created a deed of variation in favour of their respective children as ultimate beneficiaries instead. This makes the ultimate beneficiaries step-grandchildren of the deceased.
The Gov.uk website on a number of pages (such as
www.gov.uk/guidance/inheritance-tax-res ... irect-decs) is consistently vague - if not ambiguous - as to whether step-grandchildren are included as 'direct descendants' or not. The quoted page above states:
"For the purpose of the additional threshold, the direct descendant of someone is:
- a child, grandchild or other lineal descendant
- a husband, wife or civil partner of a lineal descendant (including their widow, widower or surviving civil partner)
This also includes:
- a child who is, or was at any time, their step-child
- their adopted child ... etc. "
Searching online legal advice and law firm sites produces statements that predominantly
do include step-grandchildren, however, others merely quote the Gov.uk ambiguity, so the query remains as to what is the definitive answer. This could have a significant, possibly £200,000, effect on the NRB allowable in our case.
Can anyone give me the definitive answer, please? Many thanks