Illegitimates in wills

Has anyone heard of a solicitor receiving a bequest in a will on behalf of
an illegitimate close relative of the testator? I am thinking of a scenario
in Victorian England, 1840-1870 approx., in which an elderly middle-class
spinster wishes to avoid causing her only child the embarrassment of being
exposed as illegitimate. Could making a bequest to a solicitor be a
solution?

Eve McLaughlin...

Yes. quite common in that situation.
You could admit all and say 'my natural son Fred Bloggs' or 'my ward
known as Fred Bloggs' or 'the child who now lives with me known by the
name of Fred Bloggs or Harris' or, if you really wanted to muddy the
waters, leave a sum in trust to a friend or a solicitor 'for the
purposes he knows of, stated in the writing or deed of x June xxx' or
even just leave the cash to him and trust his honesty.
In two cases, this allowed the lawqyer to pinch the cash and run.

Don Aitken...

Yes. This is an example of the "secret trust". It comes in two
flavors; the half-secret trust, in which the will states that the
property is left "on such trusts as I have declared to him", or
similar wording, and the fully secret trust, in which there nothing in
the will to indicate that a trust exists. Even in the latter case, the
terms of the trust are binding on the legatee, and the intended
beneficiary can enforce it. "The secret trust has been a convenient
means for a testator to provide for persons whose existence he did not
wish publicly to recognise, for example his mitress, or his
illegitimate children, or both" (Riddall, "The Law of Trusts").

Best wishes,

John Townsend