Dispute over will...

WhiteHorse

BLT wrote: »

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.

This post is disgraceful.

MotownFox

Mojisola wrote: »

If you are the owners of the house, no-one can stop you going in to sort things out.

If he is not complying with the conditions of the will, I would get legal advice.

The owners are the Trustees, although the OP may be one of these Trustees as appointed under the will they can therefore under the powers under the will take certain action to protect the property. FIRST and most important is the property insured? If not then he could burn the property down and the house would be worthless, or as he's old he could accidently set it on fire! The cost of the insurance maybe his responsibility but as he is the type of person who couldn't be bothered you might be find he cancelled the insurance. If it is insured then ask the Company to note on the policy that if it is cancelled or changed then the Trustees MUST be notified! If not insured then you need to organise this asap. The cost then would have to be reimbursed from your stepfather.
Similar re maintenance if he wont do it then The Trustees need to carry out the minimum and send him a bill for the work involved.
He may not pay any of these but eventually once he has died you can claim from his estate - just don't tell him you can do this otherwise he will get rid of all his cash/bank accounts before he dies.

PS Outgoings do NOT include rent only insurance, upkeep, maintenance, Council Tax(which is on the individual anyway)

marklv

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.

My advice is to let it be. In fairness, if I had been the son I would be extremely peed off not to have received 100%. Maybe the relationship between the two wasn't great - I don't know - but normally the children should get all of the inheritance. In some countries, eg France I think, this is even written into law.

joerugby

In my experience a will which does not leave everything equally to the children has all the ingredients required for a disaster

syorkshirelass

Yes but I also think that there needs to be an easier way for people to understand information in a will. A more person centred, easily accessable version could be created. This could be done alongside the legal version but could cover whatever the person wished for after their death. It appears that death planning is something that is sadly lacking. (Wedding planning is all the rage). Anyone think this a good idea? I would appreciate your views.

Errata

syorkshirelass wrote: »

Yes but I also think that there needs to be an easier way for people to understand information in a will. A more person centred, easily accessable version could be created. This could be done alongside the legal version but could cover whatever the person wished for after their death. It appears that death planning is something that is sadly lacking. (Wedding planning is all the rage). Anyone think this a good idea? I would appreciate your views.

If someone doesn't understand the contents of a will, all they have to do is ask someone who does. A Janet and John version of a will would lead to many different interpretations, comparisons and arguments. Wills are phrased in such a way that there can be no misunderstanding of the willmakers intentions - that's the point of a will.

getmore4less

syorkshirelass wrote: »

Yes but I also think that there needs to be an easier way for people to understand information in a will. A more person centred, easily accessable version could be created. This could be done alongside the legal version but could cover whatever the person wished for after their death. It appears that death planning is something that is sadly lacking. (Wedding planning is all the rage). Anyone think this a good idea? I would appreciate your views.

People don't like to talk about it.

There are companies that do this but like to be made executors so they can diddle the estate some are high street banks.

Getting it right is a legal minefield mainly because curcumstances changeand wills not updated.

Try reading one of the books from the library on wills and probate they cover some issues and clasi pitfalls. Loads of basic help online from the court service and HMRC.

Trusts which can be an important part of planning can be complicated and the tax situation is not easy to understand

The important thing is to discuss with those you have chosen as executors what you wishes are and get them involved with the legal document that enables them to do their job.

How many people select executors and don't ask if they want to do it and how many executors don't read the will and read up about the job they may have to do some time in the future.


If you want a good exercise, pretend you died today and try to do your own probate and estate tax return as if you were the executor and what they know about your affairs.

They probably don't know where you keep your financial information, if you do anything paperless that makes things even harder the only record may be a DD on the main account.

syorkshirelass

Hi
Yes I agree to everything you have said. I think that maybe I was thinking about supplementary information, not something to replace the will ie My funeral...how I would want it to be......my jewellery...who does it go to......details of my financial accounts and where to find further information, who I dont want to benefit from anything. etc
I sat and planned my mothers funeral with her. Not an easy thing to do but she felt better knowing that her wishes would be carried out. When the time came, it was 'easier' already knowing her wishes. As I did the probate for my mum, it became clear that it is important for people to make regular updates and to also include info re finding other information as you have suggested. I have supported other family members in ensuring that the information is easy to find. I created a file for my mum that my in laws have found really helpful for using in their plans.

Errata

Cremation or burial can be specified in a will, although the next of kin can ignore the wish if they choose to. Any instructions about what kind of funeral someone would prefer can be written up and kept with the will, although again they can be ignored by those making the arrangements if they choose.
Items such as jewellery, stamp collection, best gardening fork can be bequeathed to whomever by way of the will.

Age UK have an excellent free booklet in which can be recorded info on bank accounts, insurance policies & etc. http://www.ageuk.org.uk/home-and-care/home-safety-and-security/lifebook/

dzug1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/35699017#Comment_35699017

in particular Clapton's post may resolve the contradiction about who the joint account belongs to - it belongs to the joint account holder. But HMRC may assess IHT as if it were the deceased's if they provided all the money for it.

I suspect not the answer you were hoping for.