My relatives are asking me to sign something about my grandma's will that worries me

leala76

Hi, I'm new to this forum, so I apologise for this rather odd and complicated question.


My step-relatives are asking me to sign a piece of paper that I received my share from my grandma's will and have no further claim. This is making me a little suspicious. So I'm hoping someone might be able to give me some advice as to why they are asking me to do this and whether I should sign.


Here's the background:
My grandma died some 20 years ago. Her will left her estate as follows: the cash balance of her account (£150k) to my mum; some valuable paintings to my uncle (he is a millionaire so apparently didn't need the money); £1k to each of her grand children; and “the rest of her estate” to her second husband (who was some twenty years young than her). In recent years, we have realised that her house is worth £1million and its contents worth another £1million!! At the time, none of us realised how wealthy she was -she had been an antiques dealer, hence the enormous value of her estate.


Her second husband is now in a nursing home following a stroke. He has no children of his own, but has a niece who is also a solicitor. His niece has recently asked my mum to sign that she received the £150k from my grandma's will. My mum has done this. His niece is now asking me and my siblings to sign that we received our share. When we asked why this was necessary, she told us that the house is still in my grandma's name and this is a necessary procedure in order to transfer it to my grandma's second husband who wishes to sell it to pay for his nursing home fees. But I have found out that she isn't asking my uncle or his son to sign anything. I find this a bit odd. The apparent explanation is that my uncle and my grandma's second husband aren't on talking terms, but surely this just confirms that our signatures have nothing to do with “procedure” for selling the house.


I wondered whether my grandma hadn't put the house in some sort of trust for my mum? - otherwise, why wouldn't it have passed to her husband on her death? Also, my grandma's will contains the provision that if her second husband were to predecease her, or die shortly after her, it was her desire that the whole estate should pass to my mum. So her intentions were clearly that my mum, not her second husband's niece, should get the estate after he dies.


Am I right to be suspicious, or is this all normal after all?


Thank you very much for your help!


Leah

G6JNS

leala76 wrote: »

Hi, I'm new to this forum, so I apologise for this rather odd and complicated question.


My step-relatives are asking me to sign a piece of paper that I received my share from my grandma's will and have no further claim. This is making me a little suspicious. So I'm hoping someone might be able to give me some advice as to why they are asking me to do this and whether I should sign.


Here's the background:
My grandma died some 20 years ago. Her will left her estate as follows: the cash balance of her account (£150k) to my mum; some valuable paintings to my uncle (he is a millionaire so apparently didn't need the money); £1k to each of her grand children; and “the rest of her estate” to her second husband (who was some twenty years young than her). In recent years, we have realised that her house is worth £1million and its contents worth another £1million!! At the time, none of us realised how wealthy she was -she had been an antiques dealer, hence the enormous value of her estate.


Her second husband is now in a nursing home following a stroke. He has no children of his own, but has a niece who is also a solicitor. His niece has recently asked my mum to sign that she received the £150k from my grandma's will. My mum has done this. His niece is now asking me and my siblings to sign that we received our share. When we asked why this was necessary, she told us that the house is still in my grandma's name and this is a necessary procedure in order to transfer it to my grandma's second husband who wishes to sell it to pay for his nursing home fees. But I have found out that she isn't asking my uncle or his son to sign anything. I find this a bit odd. The apparent explanation is that my uncle and my grandma's second husband aren't on talking terms, but surely this just confirms that our signatures have nothing to do with “procedure” for selling the house.


I wondered whether my grandma hadn't put the house in some sort of trust for my mum? - otherwise, why wouldn't it have passed to her husband on her death? Also, my grandma's will contains the provision that if her second husband were to predecease her, or die shortly after her, it was her desire that the whole estate should pass to my mum. So her intentions were clearly that my mum, not her second husband's niece, should get the estate after he dies.


Am I right to be suspicious, or is this all normal after all?


Thank you very much for your help!


Leah

It sounds very suspicious. I would ask to see a copy of the will. If it is not forthcoming you can get a copy for ten pounds. Don't sign anything untill you have seen it.

getmore4less

You need to see the wills.

might be worth looking up the probate application for gran.


my grandma's will contains the provision that if her second husband were to predecease her, or die shortly after her

That is probably a standard survivor clause(28 days is common).

There may have been a life interest clause that will be obvious in the will.

It might also be worth going back to the original ownership/first hubby.

(exact dates needed as 20 years is a bit vague for the nil rate band at the time it changed in 95 and 96)
Around 20 years ago the nil rate band was £150k which ties in with the legacy but there would have been IHT if there were other non spouse distributions.

Moving forward it will be down to the current will of the second hubby.


As for the signing to sell the house I can't think of anything that would need that on the limited info available.

thorsoak

Askfor copies of the wills - and take independent legal advice.

TBagpuss

check your grandma's will. BUT:
- if the will said your mum got £150K and you got £1K, then you are not entitled to anything further, even if grandmother might have made different arrangements had she realised the value of her estate.
- Your grandmother dies 20 years ago and her husband is still alive, so he clearly *didn't* predecease her.
- unless her will left him only a life interest in the house, then he became the owner on her death, and is free to leave the house and other assets as he wished. If he doesn't make a will, and his niece is his nearest relation, then she will be entitled to his estate. Even if your grandmother wanted, or asked, that he leave the assets he inherited to your family, unless she made specific provision for that in her will he would not be under any obligation to do so.
- while it would have been possible, and recommended, for the house to be formally transferred into his name following your grandmother's death it is not uncommon for this to not happen - unless he wanted to mortgage or sell the property there would be nothing to trigger the formal transfer if it was overlooked at the time your grandmother died.

It may well be that the niece is asking you to confirm that you received your bequest given that clearly some of the things which should have been done (e.g. the updating of the property ownership) weren't, so she is wanting to ensure that other things were done.

If you are concerned you could (a) get a copy of the will to check that the will did not leave anything to you or your mother except the money you've already received) (b) sign a document for the niece stating that you received £1,000 from your grandmother's estate. That should be sufficient for her purposes if everything is above board, and prevents you from signing away anything you might be entitled to in the unlikely event that she is up to something dodgy.

SeniorSam

As a beneficiary of a Will yopur are allowed to see a copy of the will and the accounts that the executors created. That is the only way you can establish if the Will was executed correctly.

theoretica

Your uncle was left some specific paintings, so whether he got them or not does not affect the house sale - unless the house is being sold with paintings on the walls, which could be checked for the mentioned ones. You were left cash, so if you had not recieved it would have a claim from the sale of 'the rest of her estate' which would include the house.

peachyprice

It could be as simple as him going into a nursing home but not wanting to be forced to sell the house to pay the fees immediately, especially if it's likely they will get paid under an NHS continous care claim. The nursing home may want guarantees that nobody else will have a claim on his house once he dies if his CCC is not successful.

rheme

You need to do the following:-

1. Obtain a copy of the will (as advised previously). This is available from the probate office.

2. Ask for a copy of the final estate accounts which should show all assets, incomings and outgoings.

3. Establish how the deeds of the house are set up e.g. joint tenants or tenants in common. Joint tenants means that upon her death the house passed to her husband, tenants in common means that she held a % of the total value of the house (less and loans held against it) whilst other(s) also held a % interest.

4. Executors can and often do ask beneficiaries to sign to say that they agree with the final accounts in order to release and receive their inheritance or that they have received their inheritance in accordance with the terms of the will and there will be no further claims on the estate. This then releases the Executors of any further liability to the deceased's estate.

Good luck.