Gordon Swan of Golden Charter talks to Silver Marque about the Royal baby…

“So the secret is out, perhaps not the biggest surprise given that heirs to the throne do tend to have children pretty soon after marriage, but it’s exciting news for the country not just the family. This particular baby may spark a huge legal debate if it turns out to be a little princess that Kate is carrying. If so, the little girl will become the first royal female to be guaranteed her place in the succession line to the throne. Even our dear Queen could have been usurped if little sister Princess Margaret had turned out to be a boy.

That turned me to thinking about the numbers in the Royal family. Nothing unusual about them, but when a family has four children who go on to marry, remarry and all produce multiple offspring it’s remarkable just how many members it jumps to in just three generations. The little bundle of joy currently in Kate Middleton’s tummy will be the Queens 2nd great grandchild. Just for the record, her Majesty currently has eight grandchildren (and that doesn’t include Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall’s five grandchildren by her previous marriage) so the final total number for great grandchildren is going to be pretty impressive.

Now let’s mix in the wealth. This extended family have a few more assets than most of us, but who owns what and who will be entitled to what as the older generation pass on? Now, clearly the House of Windsor has some pretty switched on legal advice to call on but they would need to have. Just think about it. Three of the Queen’s children have married more than once and remarried after divorce, separation or bereavement. How do they sort out which family member gets what? Not easy and although it’s never happened publicly what would happen if one of the children didn’t like the settlement and chose to fight for a larger share.

Families are complicated and even if yours is simpler and has fewer assets than the Windsors, sorting out who gets what inheritance is not always easy. Take the Queen’s granddaughter Zara Phillips as an example. Her mother and father divorced and her mother remarried so if Princess Anne were to die her estate would normally fall to her husband; Tim Lawrence. On Mr Lawrence’s subsequent demise his estate would go to whom? Well without a specific will in place it would go to his children, and of course Zara Tindal, as she is now known is his step daughter so any children of his own would take precedence. Probably not what Zara’s grandmother has in mind. Doesn’t seem fair does it? But this is called sideways disinheritance, and it affects thousands of families every year.

I’m sure that steps have been taken to ensure that Mrs Tindal is not left on her uppers, but have you thought through what could happen in your own family?

Asset protection trusts, wills, probate plans and powers of attorney are all ways in which families can mitigate sideways disinheritance and several other risks relating to ensure that your assets end up in the hands of those family members that you intend to leave them to. You don’t need to be as big or wealthy a family as the Windsors to benefit but it is wise to check.

Wills and Kate just don’t know what they’ve started!”