Rights at inheritance

lincsdan86 · 22 January 2010 at 6:32PM

I dont know if this is the right place for this but please move if it isn't.

Basically,

Now 23, at the age of 18 received the balance of an inheritance left to me by my grandfather with my mother being the trustee on it.

Now I am a lil bit older and wisher (and probably more synical SP) I am wanting to know if things were done right and everything was handled correctly.

Anyway my grand father died he left his house to the 6 grandchildren at the time of his death, we were never told the value of the house. I vaguly remember hearing that my mother had taken some of this money as a fee for looking after our inheritances and we (me and my two brothers) were left with £10k each I believe.

Anyway many years past about 7 i think until come to the age of 18 and able to inherit. at this time the balance of the inheritance i think it was sumwere around 6-8k (dont ask me exactly, changed banks since then), were we supposed to be given a break down of the account, interest, amounts taken out etc etc? also am I able to see a copy of the will and estate accounts (now do a little probate work at work, but not enough to be certain)

Also I am a little concerned for my much younger brothers inheritance as, (again if i remember right) this was used to help parents by a new house, is this legal? All and any advice would be great.

thanks

pinkshoes · 22 January 2010 at 6:56PM

Just to clarify, your grandfather died when you were 11 (in 1998?), and left you a 1/6 share of the house. After the fee your mum took, this gave you a share of £10k.

7 years later when you're old enough to inherit, you were given the sum of £6k to £8k.

You might be able to use websites like https://www.houseprices.co.uk to work out what the house was worth, and it might even say how much it was sold for.

Not sure about the legal side of things, but over 7 years, the £10k should have accrued interest at quite a good rate.

RAS · 22 January 2010 at 7:20PM

Link for how to obtain copy of a will here http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/1226.htm

If it is felt that the executor is executing the estate badly or incorrectly, talk to the Probate Office.

This is assuming that you are in England or Wales.

A lot will depend on the terms of the trust that was set up, whether your mother can use the money to accomodate the beneficiaries and or charge the trust fees.

elektra-2007 · 22 January 2010 at 7:26PM

You can apply to look at any will, as the executors would have filed for probate through the courts. They would have had to have the house valued and im sure they are not allowed to under sell it.
You will find out from the will who the executers are, although they are not allowed to be out of pocket for their duties I dont think they are allowed to take a percentage, after all money put in trust just stays there and dosnt need looking after!
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/governmentcitizensandrights/death/preparation/dg_10029716
You will need to find pout which court they applyed for probate in, either where your grandparent lived or where the executeer lived.
I would be careful tho, what if you find out your mum has taken a persentage, will you report her? will it gain you anything as the money will already be gone. It could cause rifts in the family. Just somthing to think about.

Stephb1986_2 · 22 January 2010 at 7:36PM

You can go into the court they have a computer you put in your grandfathers name and the year he died see if it is the correct address that is listed you can then access the database and see how much the estate was worth you can then also request a copy of the will which will cost £5 you can also get a copy of the oath that was signed by the executor who ever that might be and also when probate was granted.

IF the executor hasn't carried out the wishes of your grandfather they are in breach of the oath and then therefore can be prosecuted. You should seek legal advice if this is the case.

You are best going visiting your local court that deals with wills ect and get a copy it doesn't matter if they aren't the ones that was used as they will obtain a copy of the will from the court that dealt with it this will take a few days and will be sent out in the post.

Was it 10k between you all or 10k each? Either way it should have some interest and should still be the same amount. I guess you could ask the bank for a copy of all transactions with this account since your grandfather died.

HTH

Steph xx

lincsdan86 · 22 January 2010 at 9:28PM

Thanks for all the replies

Just to confirm, my grandfather died in 1999 but the house took a while to sell as he died at Christmas (November time), so it shows on the house price website as selling for £95k, now I work as an accountant but after deducting £5k for fees (high end) that leaves £90k which divided by 6 is obviously not £10k each....

I am definately going to obtain a copy of the will, can I go into any court to obtain the information? I mean he died in Berkshire and we now live in Lincolnshire. I can see that I can write to the probate office to obtain a copy so that might be my first port of call.

I will be contacting my bank to confirm exactly the amount that I received on my 18th birthday, but i dont no were it was kept before that.

Like said a little concerned about my brothers inhertiance, what are the rules on investing inheritances??

Reference causing a rift between me and my family, we dont particulary see eye to eye on "family", i think that is worth everything but my parents always put money first. I just want to know what the truth is and to make sure that my brother gets his money as I dont even think he knows about it.

Mojisola · 23 January 2010 at 12:38AM

lincsdan86 wrote: »

I am definately going to obtain a copy of the will, can I go into any court to obtain the information? I mean he died in Berkshire and we now live in Lincolnshire. I can see that I can write to the probate office to obtain a copy so that might be my first port of call.

You can get a copy of the will from York. See "Postal application" on this site https://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/family_parent/family/wills.htm#forcopiesofawill

lincsdan86 · 25 January 2010 at 5:13PM

quick update on what is happening,

I have sent a letter to York to obtain a copy of the probate and will if they are able to find it, I am a little ashamed to say I could not remember the exact dates but a free 14 day trial of ancestry helped find the majority of the information.

I will be going to my old bank tomorrow to try and obtain details of the money that was paid in but it is nearly 6 years ago, do you think they will still have some record of it??? I no that I certainly having moved countless times.

To correct my original posting my mother took some of the money to go towards the house purchase as she did with my brothers saying something along the lines of you will get it in the end, its funny how things start to come back when you sit and think about them.

Now id like to think what my mother did was misguided but at the time I remember her being very upset that the majority of my grandfathers estate had been left to the grandchildren and not his children so I am not sure.

Anyone know what the legalities would be with taking some of your childrens inheritance to purchase part of a house?

Thanks in advance, Dan

[Deleted User] · 25 January 2010 at 5:37PM

C'est depends.

Despite the other thread on here, there ARE ways of parents/guardians taking the money and investing it.

The key thing is that as a trustee your role is to look after that money and use it for the benefit of the beneficiary. That means you CAN invest it in property (or anything you like) if it is for their benefit (e.g. if you knew for definite that you would get a return of 15% on a particular investment then you can - sometimes - be free to make that investment as you are acting in the best interests of the beneficiary).

What you can't do is act like that with a view to benefitting yourself. That's the distinction between this and the other thread on here today.

So, cutting a long story short, if you mum took your inheritance and used it to purchase a part of her house, it's theft and abuse of trust (plus other offences). If she did it with a view to then selling that investment and returning the cash to you with a nice chunk of interest then there's not much wrong with it.

I'm sure a proper lawyer will post here and share views on what behaviour is acceptable/unacceptable as a trustee - I think there are guidelines on what constitutes excessive risk-taking etc.

All of this is largely irrelevant though as I'm assuming your mum didn't take your money with a view to investing it in property...rather, to buy her house, right? In which case = abuse of the trustee relationship = you have a claim against her to recover the sums + interest.

However, as others have said, the fact it's a family relationship means you need to weigh up your options carefully. It might be better just to write this one off rather than taking legal action against your own mum...even though it's probably the 'right' course of action. You can at least walk away with your dignity intact.

RAS · 25 January 2010 at 5:37PM

lincsdan86 wrote: »

To correct my original posting my mother took some of the money to go towards the house purchase as she did with my brothers saying something along the lines of you will get it in the end, its funny how things start to come back when you sit and think about them.

Anyone know what the legalities would be with taking some of your childrens inheritance to purchase part of a house?

It would depend whether the trust that she was managing gave her the discretion to do this.

If so, I suspect it is fine, as long as she then registered the child's interest in the house with the Land Registry and make explicit what percentage of the house they own.

Then at a later date, she would have to buy their percentage out, at the going market rate.

You also have to balance the value of the money now against the possible value of the estate later with regard to how much upset you want to cause.

What gets more complex is that it may be that the house gets sold to pay for care, through equity release, or she does not leave you the house if she has not made explicit provision for the child portion at the land registry.

thorsoak · 25 January 2010 at 5:39PM

Your grandfather probably made the will trust to benefit his grandchildren (and it could also have included a clause stating that the trust could be used to purchase a house in which the beneficiaries would live) in order to save tax - a beneficial trust is often a very tax-efficient method of leaving large sums of money through the generations.

Rights at inheritance

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