Sibling estate dispute (scotland)

Mrgee

Hi this is my first post i am new so hope its in right place...so here goes i lived with my father who in 2010 became ill and house bound and gradually declined then suddenly passed in 2012..so my brother and sister said i should continue to live in my dads house as i had been his carer etc and thats what he would have wanted but i thought the house needed too much work as i myself am not in the best of health and also couldnt afford to have the house brought up to scratch (which it needed)..so in the nearly 2 yrs that followed i continued to pay the mortgage (to keep it up to date) and have some of the urgent repairs done ie roof,gutters,plumbing..so by this time the house was becoming too much for me so me my brother and sister decided to contact a solicitors and get advice on what to do with the house & wind up my fathers estate which was all fine & i was appointed executor purely because my brother worked long hours & my sister lived 50 miles away...so in those few years i paid any funeral expenses payed the mortgage,paid for all repairs etc on the house & cleared it out ready for sale(no easy task as my father was a collector/semi hoarder) which took weeks..so eventually the house was sold & estate settled between me my brother and sister..some months later i received a letter from a solicitor stating that i have a half sister & i had delibertly left her out when winding up the estate..now this a part of my dads life i dont know too much about as he remarried to someone from england when me and my siblings were very young and we never seen much of him at that time (maybe once a month)and as he was very complex & secretive about this part of his life me my brother and sister believed what he had told us that the so called half sister was his wifes daughter..i knew she existed but always beleved she was the ex wifes daughter(i can only go with what i grew up being told)..,so now shes taking me to court & my brother and sister are refusing to give back there share under any circumstances..i would struggle to pay back my share let alone my brothers & sisters so was hoping for some advice as im at end of my tether with worry im disabled on benefits and could never afford that if ruled against me any help/advice would be grately appreciated

Tuesday_Tenor

Welcome.

But I'll put some paragraphs in, as very difficult to read as a block of text, so people won't bother ....

Mrgee wrote: »

Hi this is my first post i am new so hope its in right place...so here goes

i lived with my father who in 2010 became ill and house bound and gradually declined then suddenly passed in 2012..so my brother and sister said i should continue to live in my dads house as i had been his carer etc and thats what he would have wanted

but i thought the house needed too much work as i myself am not in the best of health and also couldnt afford to have the house brought up to scratch (which it needed)..

so in the nearly 2 yrs that followed i continued to pay the mortgage (to keep it up to date) and have some of the urgent repairs done ie roof,gutters,plumbing..

so by this time the house was becoming too much for me so me my brother and sister decided to contact a solicitors and get advice on what to do with the house & wind up my fathers estate which was all fine & i was appointed executor purely because my brother worked long hours & my sister lived 50 miles away...

so in those few years i paid any funeral expenses payed the mortgage,paid for all repairs etc on the house & cleared it out ready for sale(no easy task as my father was a collector/semi hoarder) which took weeks..

so eventually the house was sold & estate settled between me my brother and sister..some months later i received a letter from a solicitor stating that i have a half sister & i had delibertly left her out when winding up the estate.

.now this a part of my dads life i dont know too much about as he remarried to someone from england when me and my siblings were very young and we never seen much of him at that time (maybe once a month)and as he was very complex & secretive about this part of his life me my brother and sister believed what he had told us that the so called half sister was his wifes daughter..i knew she existed but always beleved she was the ex wifes daughter(i can only go with what i grew up being told)..,

so now shes taking me to court & my brother and sister are refusing to give back there share under any circumstances..i would struggle to pay back my share let alone my brothers & sisters so was hoping for some advice as im at end of my tether with worry im disabled on benefits and could never afford that if ruled against me

any help/advice would be grately appreciated

Torry_Quine

You need expert advice on this. You cannot disinterest a child in Scotland.

Keep_pedalling

Assuming your father was foolish enough not to make a will, then your half sister is entiltled to 25% of his entire estate, and as the sole admistrator of that estate, I'm afraid the buck stops with you to resolve this.

Having said that surely your brother and sister are not that heartless that they are going to leave you taking the entire hit for this.

Although Scottish law prevents anyone entirely disinheriting a child, a will would have prevented her claiming on heritable property (the house)

Mojisola

Mrgee wrote: »

i lived with my father who in 2010 became ill and house bound and gradually declined then suddenly passed in 2012.

so by this time the house was becoming too much for me so me my brother and sister decided to contact a solicitors and get advice on what to do with the house & wind up my fathers estate which was all fine & i was appointed executor

so eventually the house was sold & estate settled between me my brother and sister.

some months later i received a letter from a solicitor stating that i have a half sister & i had delibertly left her out when winding up the estate.

now this a part of my dads life i dont know too much about as he remarried to someone from england when me and my siblings were very young

i knew she existed but always beleved she was the ex wifes daughter

As the administrator of the estate, you should have checked about the status of this woman.

What advice was given by the solicitor? Didn't he/she tell you that you had to confirm whether there were any other people entitled to inherit from your father? Did you put an advert in the Gazette?

Mrgee

Hi thanks for the replys..i didnt check on staus of her as i didnt think my father had any other children other than my brother and sister

Yes may have been foolish not leaving a will but he was seriously ill

I also inderstand that the buck stops with me but i simply cant afford to pay this back id struggle to get my share let alone my brother and sisters share hence what do i do??

When i spoke to the solicitor he just said pay her as shes got a birth certificate but by that time i had spent the money

Sorry for the way i have replyed as i dont know how to reply to the individual replys..and once again thanks any kind of advice or tips are greatly appreciated im at the end of my tether & my health is suffering grately due to the worry..i dont know how far it will go or what the final outcome will be for myself

Torry_Quine

Mrgee wrote: »

Hi thanks for the replys..i didnt check on staus of her as i didnt think my father had any other children other than my brother and sister

Yes may have been foolish not leaving a will but he was seriously ill

I also inderstand that the buck stops with me but i simply cant afford to pay this back id struggle to get my share let alone my brother and sisters share hence what do i do??

When i spoke to the solicitor he just said pay her as shes got a birth certificate but by that time i had spent the money

Sorry for the way i have replyed as i dont know how to reply to the individual replys..and once again thanks any kind of advice or tips are greatly appreciated im at the end of my tether & my health is suffering grately due to the worry..i dont know how far it will go or what the final outcome will be for myself

Even if your father had had a will with no legacy to your half-sister that wouldn't stop her having an entitlement.

Mrgee

If shes entitled thats fair enough i can accept that but i dont have the money to pay her or i would just to put an end to it and get on with my life...the problem for me is that i dont have the money to pay her

Keep_pedalling

You really need to avoid this going through the courts, as you will end up owing a lot of legal expenses as well.

Talk to your brother and sister, all three of you need to repay the portion of your inheritance you received that should have gone to your half sister (plus interest probably) If you can't raise the money between you, then you are going to be purseyed for the money, and if they can't get it all from you, by seizing and selling your possessions, then the next call is your siblings.

securityguy

"so now shes taking me to court & my brother and sister are refusing to give back there share under any circumstances."

What, even when they get a court order against them?

In England, you would be in the wrong in an intestate death, but with a will which cut the half-sister out you would be on much stronger ground.

As far as I understand Scottish law (which isn't very far) then in Scotland even a will struggles to disinherit. For intestacy in the absence of a spouse it's even split between children, pretty much come what may (you might have been able to claim you were being supported by the estate and get a larger share, but that claim is now out of time).

You're on extremely shaky ground. The half-sister will win a court action against both the executor (you) and the beneficiaries (your siblings) and she will be able to recover both her share and her legal expenses from anyone who comes to hand. She can bankrupt you, or your siblings, pretty much at her choice (does anyone know if it's joint and several, or if it's executor first and then beneficiaries for any shortfall?) You need legal advice, right now, but I would place money on the legal advice being "for God's sake settle".

Malthusian

Taking you literally, if you've spent all the money - on things which were disposable or otherwise have no value to your half-sister from a bankruptcy / sequestration perspective - you have nothing to lose anyway.

I could be jumping to conclusions but you said the house was sold and you didn't mention buying another one, you said you were disabled and on benefits, it doesn't sound like you have a great deal to lose from bankruptcy. Perhaps more crucially, she has nothing to gain from it.

If you have no assets to speak of (other than cheap furniture and tools of your trade) there is nothing she can seize, and someone whose only income is benefits cannot have their income garnished (a Debtor Contribution Order).

We don't sent bankrupts to debtors' prisons anymore. Relax. Even if you do have stuff she can take you shouldn't let her take your physical health as well.