Dispute over will...

Sally1973

Morning All,

Not sure where to post this so please feel free to move it to the correct place BG's.

I'd really be grateful for your opinions and advice about a very upsetting dispute over a family members will.

I'll try to keep it brief and stick to the main facts~

My very elderly aunt died recently and left a will. She leaves a house which is in the process of being sold and about £50k in her savings account. Her estate is to be split 4 ways. 40% to her only child, 20% to me (her niece), 20% to my sister, and 20% to a charity.

About a year or so before she died she put her sons name on her savings account and made it a joint account with him in order for him to manage her account and keep his eye on it through computer banking (he lives a long way away) to make sure she wasn't being 'diddled' by anyone at any point.

My sister and I are executors of the will, not the son. The house has been sold and all other pots of money are in ready to be equally divided as in accordance with the will. Here's the tricky bit ~ her son (my cousin) is not releasing the money her savings account. He says it's all his as it was in a joint account. None of the money was put in by him which he has admitted. He has sought legal advice and is sticking to his guns. The charity that is due to be getting 20% is not interested in fighting it.

I have had legal advise and they said I could try and fight it but it could cost me thousands to find out if I'd win and I might not!

Does anyone know where we stand?? The money in the savings account was my aunts and all put in by my aunt and uncle when he was alive, and not a penny was from my cousin. Putting aside all feelings of unbelieveable hurt that my cousin would do this to us, I'd be very interested in what any of you thought.

Many thanks for reading.

BLT_2

Sally1973 wrote: »

Morning All,

Not sure where to post this so please feel free to move it to the correct place BG's.

I'd really be grateful for your opinions and advice about a very upsetting dispute over a family members will.

I'll try to keep it brief and stick to the main facts~

My very elderly aunt died recently and left a will. She leaves a house which is in the process of being sold and about £50k in her savings account. Her estate is to be split 4 ways. 40% to her only child, 20% to me (her niece), 20% to my sister, and 20% to a charity.

About a year or so before she died she put her sons name on her savings account and made it a joint account with him in order for him to manage her account and keep his eye on it through computer banking (he lives a long way away) to make sure she wasn't being 'diddled' by anyone at any point.

My sister and I are executors of the will, not the son. The house has been sold and all other pots of money are in ready to be equally divided as in accordance with the will. Here's the tricky bit ~ her son (my cousin) is not releasing the money her savings account. He says it's all his as it was in a joint account. None of the money was put in by him which he has admitted. He has sought legal advice and is sticking to his guns. The charity that is due to be getting 20% is not interested in fighting it.

I have had legal advise and they said I could try and fight it but it could cost me thousands to find out if I'd win and I might not!

Does anyone know where we stand?? The money in the savings account was my aunts and all put in by my aunt and uncle when he was alive, and not a penny was from my cousin. Putting aside all feelings of unbelieveable hurt that my cousin would do this to us, I'd be very interested in what any of you thought.

Many thanks for reading.

So you are getting 20% of the proceeds of a house purely by dint of the fact that you are related to someone and are upset that you are not getting any more.

The worst thing about someone dying are the vultures who circle the grave afterwards

Sally1973

I'm sorry that you think that is my possition , it isn't. There didn't seem to be a need to go into great private details about how much I thought of my aunt, or indeed how much she'll be missed. I don't have a need or a desire for her money, it will be given to my Grandchildren for their future.

Yes my sister and I are getting 20% of the house. My main issue with this is that my cousin is not allowing myself and my sister to follow the will in accordance to my aunts wishes. She wanted the whole estate split in a certan way, not minus her money. I also have an issue that the charity will be missing out on a great deal. Morally I feel my cousin is wrong, the money is not an issue.

Blueshark911

My Opinion : A joint account is as it's said JOINT doesnt matter who put what in. The funds are to be divided equally. In this case one of the account holders has died therefor the remaining holder gets the pot.

Solicitors may tell you anything BUT remember they get paid what ever the outcome of the case. It will be the estate that pays so remember 20% of nothing is nothing.

You have to decide as executor is it worth fighting ? Not matter what happens you cant please everybody and you want to remember your Aunt in a good way and not as a cause of a family fude :A

dzug1

Legally your cousin is in the right - he gets that money by being the surviving account holder and it does not form part of your aunt's estate for inheritance purposes. She gave it to him by making the account a joint one. Granting him power of attorney would have been better, but would have been expensive, which is maybe why she didn't do it. Possibly she didn't realise the consequences, but that's immaterial.

The fact that the charity isn't interested in contesting it means that they are of the same opinion. It will be legal fees down the drain as far as they - and you -are concerned.

Morally I make no comment whatsover.

TonyMMM

Sally1973 wrote: »

I have had legal advise and they said I could try and fight it but it could cost me thousands to find out if I'd win and I might not!

You have already had proper advice ... generally whan a joint account holder dies the proceeds are deemed to belong to the surviving account holder.

As executor , you need to make sure your own position is covered and find out if you are under an obligation to challenge your cousin (another benficiary, e.g. the charity, could potentially insist that you do to maximise their share of the estate).

Sally1973

Thankyou Blueshark. This is exactly what we are thinking. My aunt would be devestated by her sons actions, but I really do not want to go through a legal process. He has to live with his decision, as long as I know we've done the right thing I can rest easy.

The legal advise we had told us that when it comes to sharing out the rest of the estate we should give him his 40% minus what he's already got in the bank account? Think that would start WW3 and really don't want to do anything that would be 'the wrong thing' if you know what I mean?

Many thanks for your opinion.

Sally1973

Thankyou Tony and dzug, It makes things clearer to me when people in the know tell me how it is. I am very concerned that I'm not following the will to the letter but I have kept all correspondance from my cousin stating his possition so hopefully they will see I have done my best.

dzug1

The legal advice is probably based on the premise that he won't bother to sue you for his legal entitlement for fear of it costing him too much, or causing too much of a family feud.

If he does - and wins, which is likely - you will be liable for his costs.

And you ARE following the will to its letter. You are distributing your aunt's actual estate, not the one you thought she had, nor maybe the one she thought she had. You have to do what the law requires, not what you think she wanted. For all you know she may have been perfectly aware of what she was doing and regarded it as a little extra reward to her son for helping with her finances.

Sally1973

Thanks dzug, I'm very grateful for your knowledge on the matter, I feel much clearer about things now.

amersall

There is nothing worse when someone dies and you get to see everyones true colours. I have a brother and sister, who, when my mum died took everything out of the house and sold it, my brother wouldnt let the house be sold for 80000, he wanted to get 99950 for it , there was no way the house would have realised that amount back in 2008.He put an offer in to buy it in march of this year for 70000 (that is why he wouldnt let it go for 80000, he just wanted to make a killing) but 3 of us said no as he had robbed mum enough.We did sell the house in may of this year for 80000 and after bills paid and small mortgage we 5 get a nice sum, but at the end of the day I dont know how people sleep at night.I have for 2 years been fighting all that has happened and to be honest it is just not worth it, but i can hold my head up as i looked after mum (i might as well have been an only child) took her shopping and holidays etc. so please if you can sort this thats fine, but if you cant please let it go.From my experience it is not worth it and it will make you ill just like it did with me.x