Charity threatens to contest will

DVardysShadow

darlyd wrote: »

OMG My Mil is having the same problem with a greedy charity that her aunt left too.

MIL was made executor on Aunt's death, MIL had to look after her cousin (Aunt's Son with mental problems) Allow him to stay in home, downsize if needed (Which she did, sold house moved cousin to a bungalow), Used the trust to support him etc. And upon his death it was made clear all monies (roughly 100k) and the estate would be donated to this charity.

He passed away over a year ago now, And what a buddy nightmare......... MIL offered to buy bungalow for 100k (in this current market) It's worth 130k, they refused and wants MIL to sell it, she had it on the market for months, lots of interest but sadly no buyers, SO Solicitor advised her to take it off the market and to give it to them as is, (she has sweated doing decorating, new carpets, maintains the garden even now it's empty). FINALLY their solicitors have accepted this offer, and it's all going through. GREEDY BAR STU ARDS !!!!!!!!!!! Funny thing is one of their chair men is called Mr Fidder...

She should of course charge for everything she has done.

Savvy_Sue

DVardysShadow wrote: »

She should of course charge for everything she has done.

My sentiments exactly.

I know executors can't charge for their time (unless acting in a professional capacity), but I'm not sure about Trustees - and were there other Trustees for this legacy?

meritaten

she can expect the trustees to reimburse her for any improvements or charges on the property! bill them - in full!

meritaten

just to let you know that mum recieved a letter from the solicitors this morning - which included a cheque as an interim payment. in the accompanying letter the solicitors say that the Financial Director of this charity has AGAIN asked to meet with the other beneficiaries, ie my mum and aunts. I cannot think of ANY reason, legal or otherwise, why the beneficiaries should meet each other, so can only conclude that the FD is trying to persuade them to give more of their share to the charity! He has no hope in he11 of meeting my mum - but if he really insists, then I will be happy to meet with him as her representative! I told my OH this and he muttered 'the poor sod won't know what's hit him'!
so, I am going to phone the executors Monday and get their advice on this - but first I have to find out whether mums going to pay them the £500, make a counter offer or just plain refuse to give them another penny! at the end of all this, it is about HER inheritance and entirely up to her and the aunts!

Savvy_Sue

Unless the FD's office is based close to all 3 beneficiaries, then the time involved to travel to and meet with them would surely all but wipe out the donation he's attempting to extort from them, IMO. It would not, again IMO, be unreasonable to ask the charity to pay the beneficiaries' reasonable travel expenses, and since these are not young women and your mother at least is not in the best of health (or so I gather), then these reasonable travel expenses might include taxis etc.

Personally, I'd be suggesting that if he kindly drops the subject, the charity will be quids in!

But that's not a legal opinion ...

of course it's possible he wants to offer an apology and explain why they pursued this. In that case, he could write a letter and say so!

meritaten

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Unless the FD's office is based close to all 3 beneficiaries, then the time involved to travel to and meet with them would surely all but wipe out the donation he's attempting to extort from them, IMO. It would not, again IMO, be unreasonable to ask the charity to pay the beneficiaries' reasonable travel expenses, and since these are not young women and your mother at least is not in the best of health (or so I gather), then these reasonable travel expenses might include taxis etc.

Personally, I'd be suggesting that if he kindly drops the subject, the charity will be quids in!

But that's not a legal opinion ...

of course it's possible he wants to offer an apology and explain why they pursued this. In that case, he could write a letter and say so!

Exactly my thoughts - why not write to them?
mum is nearly 80 now and although she is healthy enough she is conscious of a throat condition which causes her voice to break up (sort of like that old comedian Norman Collier who did a thing about a malfunctioning microphone)!
my other aunt is mid seventies and has had a stroke - which has affected HER voice (Its cruel to laugh I know, but I cant help myself when those two get together - it can sound as if they are talking in Morse code!). It also affects her short term memory and understanding - so he wont be seeing her either - maybe her son!
my youngest aunt is only in her late sixties - but she is a fiesty one! she is quite likely to hit him with her handbag if she thinks she is being coerced or patronised!
well - we shall see what mum and the aunts want to do!

DVardysShadow

meritaten wrote: »

in the accompanying letter the solicitors say that the Financial Director of this charity has AGAIN asked to meet with the other beneficiaries, ie my mum and aunts. I cannot think of ANY reason, legal or otherwise, why the beneficiaries should meet each other, so can only conclude that the FD is trying to persuade them to give more of their share to the charity!

I was thinking the same as you, but another possibility has crossed my mind.

Looking at the offer the charity has made to settle, I think that they are making the best of a bad job. They know they are on to a loser on this one, so they can only make the best of a bad job.

Now, if they were going to win hands down in court, the FD would not have time of day for the likes of you. And if they knew they were on to a hiding to nothing, he would not have time of day for you either.

This says to me that his motivation is probably damage limitation. In other words, he is probably aware of this thread.

Now when I come out with this sort of stuff, I am not totally certain, but it is an interpretation which you might want to think about before you decide what to do.

meritaten

Thanks DVardy - I dont see how the charity can be aware of the thread - but there is the possibility that they are. However, The FD has asked to meet with the beneficiaries before - when they er 'demanded' that the sisters make up the difference out of their share of the house!
I really dont care if they are aware or not - mum has kept all correspondence and the charity cannot deny what they have done! I have not at any point named or identified them on here! I have also stated that they are a worthwhile charity and understand they have to maximise their income - I just havent liked the way they have gone about it and started the thread to INFORM MSEers of the way SOME charities operate. Others have said its happened to them and mums solicitors have also said this can happen when specific amounts are not mentioned in the will.
I really hope the estate gets wound up soon - they (the charity) have delayed and prevaricated and although the solicitors have been good about keeping costs down, it still mounts up! I was actually surprised at the amount of the interim payment, I thought the overall amount would actuallly be less than that considering the timescale and the amount of correspondence about this!
I appreciate the advice though!

meritaten

little bit of update - mum and the aunts say they wont give the charity another penny - so its a straight NO from all three!

dianasnan

Good for your Mum and Aunts:T

I would never leave any money to a charity in my will after the dealings we had with a animal one after the death of a relative.

Only 10 days after we received the probate papers we received a letter from them basically saying where is our money and why haven't we received it yet and if we don't get it soon we will go to court (but in not so nice terms). It was a fairly small legacy( a few hundred pounds) ,yet another local charity who also received a small amount wrote a lovely letter back so we willing donated a lot of her household goods to them to sell for their funds.