Missing bequest

kazzah

Hello
I hope I am on the right forum
I had an elderly friend who always promised me a ring of hers on her death - it was a bit of a standing joke between us - she and I shared a love of jewellery and she had no children or relatives to leave it to

3 years ago she moved into a residential home, selling her home to finance it. As she became more frail she used to ask me to take the ring home with me- but I was very concerned that someone might think I had stolen it or co-erced her into giving me it - also I didn't really believe that she wanted me to have it as we had joked about it for many years.

Sadly she passed away recently at the great age of 93 and I was contacted by her solicitor to say she had actually left me the ring in her will - I was surprised as i honestly thought she would leave it as part of her estate to be sold to benefit a charity which helped her greatly in later life.

However, the ring it seems was stolen from the residential home with some other jewellery - I don't believe the police were informed and i am led to believe that the "home manager" assumed my friend had "mislaid " it- which is odd given that she was totally housebound!

so my question is this - would I be entitled to an alternative memento if there are any - i didn't want to ask the solicitor and seem money grabbing ( although I know that is probably how I am coming across- but I'm not really!) or would the solicitor be able to claim on the home's insurance policy ?
or is it as I suspect- that I am simply not going to receive anything?

any advice would be welcome

Mojisola

kazzah wrote: »

Sadly she passed away recently at the great age of 93 and I was contacted by her solicitor to say she had actually left me the ring in her will - I was surprised as i honestly thought she would leave it as part of her estate to be sold to benefit a charity which helped her greatly in later life.

However, the ring it seems was stolen from the residential home with some other jewellery

so my question is this - would I be entitled to an alternative memento if there are any

No. If the bequest is no longer part of the deceased's estate, the inheritance fails.

Crabapple

Sadly your bequest does fail.

However, you should be asking the solicitor to contact the home and find out why the theft was not reported (if it was not) and state an intention to claim on their contents insurance.

It may be that their insurance does not cover residents possessions but it is certainly worth asking. It's very poor that they presume she had just mislaid it, especially if there are a very limited number of places she could have been.

If the theft was after her death then you should be entitled to the monetary value if anything is paid out under insurance.

jackyann

I would certainly see if you can instigate some investigation.
Are there any other beneficiaries or executors?

It is fairly common for executors to ask if any friends or family would like any mementoes of small monetary value. I have things like china, books, scarves, that I was asked to choose from friends' things. So I would not think it unreasonable to ask for some small item of sentimental value; especially as your friend intended you to have something.

kazzah

sadly she was living in a residential home and most of her personal items were sold/donated/given away when she sold her bungalow and moved there.
There is another friend who I believe might have been due to receive a bequest - I may contact her and see if her item is missing also
Thankfully my dear friend used to collect porcelain figurines and she did give me one I had always admired before she moved into the home so i am fortunate i do have something to remember her by.

her solicitor is the executor of the will i believe.

Ziggazee

There doesn't appear any evidence that the ring was actually 'stolen'. You state in your original post that the care home manager assumed the deceased had simply 'mislaid it'. What makes you think it was stolen?


Quite often elderly people give things away without actually thinking too much about it (despite having already promised an item to someone else). My advice would be to simply let things lie and move on.


If you really insist on an alternative momento then you should approach the Executor with your request.

kazzah

the only "evidence" is that my friend told the other beneficiary her jewellery had been stolen - the other beneficiary was a good friend to both my late friend and me and phoned me to tell me that
" your ring has been stolen with all of R's jewellery"
R claimed that it was stolen by a young care worker who left the home very suddenly

I am well aware that elderly people give items away - my friend only had 4 visitors throughout her time at the home, me, an elderly male friend who died recently, our mutual friend and the support worker from the charity who held her power of attorney - she was an only child and a widow who had no children herself- so no living relatives and no-one who would have taken the ring I assume.

I do have a memento of hers - but it slightly rankles that a very valuable diamond ring has "disappeared" ( it was a 1ct solitaire) and what has made me very suspicious is that just after my friends funeral the local paper carried a story about a member of staff at the home being prosecuted for abusing elderly residents

but as you say - there is nothing concrete other than she used to wear the ring every day and one day it ( and all her other rings, watch and a gold bracelet promised to our mutual friend) was gone

Mojisola

kazzah wrote: »

the only "evidence" is that my friend told the other beneficiary her jewellery had been stolen - the other beneficiary was a good friend to both my late friend and me and phoned me to tell me that "your ring has been stolen with all of R's jewellery"
R claimed that it was stolen by a young care worker who left the home very suddenly

Did either of you follow this up with the home at the time?

kazzah

mojisola
no - we didn't, it was a difficult situation because both of us had concerns about the possibility of some sort of repercussions for our friend - I know that seems silly - but the loss of the jewellery was annoying- especially for my friend R whose stuff was taken and she was adamant it was stolen but she became so distressed talking about it and was so cross that no-one ( in the home) seemed to believe her that we were reluctant to stir the hornets nest - our friend was very frail and wheelchair bound and reliant on the staff for everything and whilst we had no reason to assume she would suffer any repercussions - we were also not able to be there 24 hours a day and to watch all the staff interactions.

to be 100% truthful - I am annoyed that i didn't make more of a fuss - NOT because I am annoyed about the loss of the ring to me - I had no REAL anticipation of ever actually owning it - what you never had you never miss

BUT I am annoyed that my friend was ( potentially) the victim of a crime and that we didn't complain to the home manager at least.

What I can say is this- I NEVER want to be in a situation like that again - it has really distressed me that maybe my friend feels that we failed her by not calling the police - but also I am aware that potentially the "home" may well have simply said she had mislaid them and the police might not have taken the complaint seriously.

it is such a delicate situation and really there is no good outcome - since i read the newspaper report, it has been playing on my mind that potentially my friend may have been the victim of abuse and too frightened to tell us.

it is a very sad situation