Making a will

Bit late for you but October was free wills month. My sister and brother in law had theirs done by a solicitor free of charge. I believe they are doing this again in March. The only snag is that they try to get you to leave something to charity. You don't have to, my sister didn't.

I agree with M0nica. I have made 4 wills in my life: 2 were very straightforward and made on will forms (when I had no children, and again when they were adults). 2 were more complicated: appointing testamentary guardians and making other provision when the children were under 18; and the other as you wish, leaving money split between children and grandchildren.
For the latter, you do need a solicitor, unless you are happy that your children will honour your wishes.
A note of caution on that: should any of your children be in need of long-term care or benefits at the time they inherit, they cannot simply give away the money they inherit. Their benefits will be calculated on the money they receive from the will, and no notice taken of wishes expressed outside of that (I should say that which benefits are affected is also quite complicated, not all are, just saying it may not be simple!)

You can leave your money to who you want but it's really best to use a solicitor to make sure it's legal and for the sake of a couple of hundred quid is it worth giving yourself brain ache over. Mine only cost £200 and honestly it was worth that for the peace of mind.

It really isn't "the normal thing" for people to leave their estate to more than one generation. The normal thing would be for you to leave your estate to your children. When they make their wills they leave their estates to their children and so on.

Leaving to grandchildren is a problem - anything can happen in the future and your will may not be relevant by the time you die. More children could be born - or some could grow up and become drug addicts or criminals who would fritter any inherited money away.

You could leave it to your children, and tell them that you'd like them to give their children some spending money when you die. That way you'd cover all contingencies.

Do think carefully before leaving your estate to more than one generation. What happens if more children are born after your death? Will it cause bad feeling if one of your offspring has more children than the other? Obviously your wishes are paramount but sometimes they have unforeseen consequences, eg the youngsters squander it away.
My friend and her children inherited her mother's half share in a property. Her son wants to buy a house for himself but his shared ownership in a property has complicated his situation. The property must be sold to extricate him from it - his mother cannot afford to buy him out.

watermeadow what you want to do is very easily done and is frequently done, but it cannot be done on a will form from WH Smith.

Speak to a solicitor and they should be able to do it for you without too much cost.

Thanks for advice. I’ve spent ages looking for the answer but can’t find any legal way of leaving my estate as I want to, dividing it equally between adults and children. I would have thought this was a very normal way to write a will for a grandparent. I want to be fair to those with and those without children and I’m sure young adults will need money more than their middle aged parents will.

You could make a will, dividing it between your children and then leave a letter of wishes with it saying you would like your children to give your chosen amount to each of their children when they reach 18.

The letter is not legally binding and depends on your children honouring it, but if you have a good relationship with them, then they are likely to do so.

As you are trying to make your will as cheaply as possible, I assume your estate will not be huge and the sum of money you want to go to your DGC is not large either. Setting up a trust will eat up a lot of the money you are leaving them. I would go for the simple will and Letter of Wishes route. Store the will and Letter together and make sure your children know where you have put it.

My will cost under £200 with a solicitor

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

You really should see a solicitor for anything more complex than a straight split between adult beneficiaries. Some firms offer a free half hour initial appointment so you could get some idea of the cost. Your local Citizens Advice May have a list. They also have a lot of useful info on their web site adviceguide
Why not just split between your children and they will obviously take care of the grandchildren?