Making Testamentary Trust a Substitute Beneficiary

Occasionally we get questions about:

"... I wish to will everything to my husband. But in the event that he passes away, I would like to will everything to my parents. However, they are not good with the management of money and I would like to appoint my best friend to help in that. How do I proceed?"

"... I want to activate the trust fund only when my spouse passes away. How do I enter this in the testamentary trust?"

"... I want a Testamentary Trust for my children (so that a trustee can help to manage and payout accordingly) BUT I only want that to happen in the event my Wife dies before me."

Each of the above request is essentially asking how to have a Testamentary Trust as a "Substitute Beneficiary", to come in ONLY IF the original intended beneficiary has died.

Important - If you wish to create ONLY 1 Testamentary Trust (rather than 2 separate Testamentary Trust) in the event both spouses pass away simultaneously, please refer to this article "How Can You Ensure the Creation of Only One Testamentary Trust When Both Spouses Pass Away Simultaneously?"

How to set a Testamentary Trust as a "Substitute Beneficiary"?

The following example shows how a Testamentary Trust is added as a substitute beneficiary for the Husband:

1: Draft the Testamentary Trust accordingly.
2: Under " Select Clauses" tab, toggle on Other Instruction and key in the condition accordingly e.g.:; If my {Relationship}, {Name}, {Identification Number/Details}, dies before me, the share of my estate which he/she would otherwise be entitled to receive under this Will shall be redistributed to My Testamentary Trust - {TRUST NAME} Trust.
3: If you do encounter the following error while generating the Will:; Tick the "Bypass auto Trust Fund check" option under that Testamentary Trust page and click "Save":; The "Allocate some assets into it" error appears when our system logic is unable to automatically detect any assets that are allocated to this Testamentary Trust, for example if you do so via an open ended written instructions such as the above scenario.

If you ticked the "Bypass Trust Fund check" option, please remember to manually ensure that there are indeed asset(s) being allocated to this Testamentary Trust.