Will made 1903

[snowy owl]

HI All

I have a will from a publican (no relation yet?) made 1903 leaving estate "in trust" to my GG Aunt and then on her death 1/3 rd to  her daughter.   It seems she worked or looked after him after his wife died.

 He  died 1910 and probate is granted to both what appears to be his own family member and my GG Aunt (his housekeeper).  Her husband was still alive .  My question is what does "in trust" mean and did she receive the money or her daughter?

TIA

[CaroleW]

What did the estate consist of?

[Jebber]

I stand to be corrected but I believe it was left to the GG Aunt during her lifetime, although she was not free to dispose of it, on her death a third would  go to her daughter. I imagine the other two thirds would revert to the estate for his own family or whoever received the residue of his estate.

It is difficult to be certain without reading the entire Will.

[Mabel Bagshawe]

I stand to be corrected but I believe it was left to the GG Aunt during her lifetime, although she was not free to dispose of it, on her death a third would  go to her daughter. I imagine the other two thirds would revert to the estate for his own family or whoever received the residue of his estate.

It is difficult to be certain without reading the entire Will.

That makes sense - there now follows some major speculation.

Was the GG Aunt estranged from her husband? You will see the term "housekeeper" in censuses where relationships were, shall we say, a bit closer than that, but one or both parties were not free to marry. By holding the estate in trust (i.e. someone else is managing it and it's not hers to dispose of) the GG Aunt benefits, and later her daughter, but GG Aunt's potentially estranged husband I believe would have no claim on that money.  GG Aunt is being "taken care of" after her friend's death and then the estate mostly safely reverts to his family

[snowy owl]

Carole W It doesn't say exactly what the estate was, but the probate index stated the amount was £2440 a substantial amount in those days?

There was a codocil later writing his niece out of the proceeds because of her treatment of his sister(her mother),

Jebber - ive revisited the wording on the will  and it states the  names of the trustees/executors then it  says the estate is bequeathed to those trustees to invest, sell or whatever , so surely that means she had access to the funds to do what she wanted with?

Mabel Ive since seen your reply- I think youre right about the reltionship as her husband did not live with her then later ended up alone in the workhouse.  She did end up  living in a very large house and i wondered if this was from the proceeds, or it may have actually been a retirement home. More investigation required I think

thank you all for your replies
 

[mazi]

Jebber - ive revisited the wording on the will  and it states the  names of the trustees/executors then it  says the estate is bequeathed to those trustees to invest, sell or whatever , so surely that means she had access to the funds to do what she wanted with
 

Not quite, it is giving the trustees power to manage the estate, be it cash, stocks and shares or land
as they see fit, although trustees were not allowed  by law to invest in certain areas, it was common to put cash in government funds and pay out the interest

Mike