less then 'told' in heritance

financiallywet

Hi,

My daughters and i are fortunately named in an inheritance and not wishing to look a gift in the mouth so to speak, the sum is about a half than what I was told by the dearly departed - I'm not sure how to follow up or even if i should bother at all - but she was a wily and thrifty person that looked after her money and worked hard for it and hand on heart I dont want that part of her life wasted if something is amiss somewhere along the line - i'm a little inclined to think that something might have been overlooked by the solicitors or God forbid, some nasty goings on.

What to do??

any advice greatly appreciated, thanks.

i'm not the executor of the will only the benefactor along with my children.

Browntoa

whats in the estate does not equate to whats left AFTER death duties and outstanding debts been paid


https://www.gov.uk/wills-probate-inheritance/overview

Mojisola

Ask the executor if you can see the estate accounts.

Keep_pedalling

Mojisola wrote: »

Ask the executor if you can see the estate accounts.

Obtaining a copy of the will would be better, and that should now be a public document assuming probate has been obtained

Unfortunately for you what she said means nothing, only what she wrote in the will counts. Some people lie, others make changes because their circumstances change or they simply change their mind.

financiallywet

Mojisola wrote: »

Ask the executor if you can see the estate accounts.

just a thought, the solicitor would have been given all the information of estate at the point of making the will, correct?

Keep_pedalling

financiallywet wrote: »

just a thought, the solicitor would have been given all the information of estate at the point of making the will, correct?

No, that would not happen, and anyway the make up of the estate could change greatly between writing the will and dying.

Estate accounts should be given to the residuary beneficial, other beneficiaries are not normally provided with a copy and the executor is under no obligation to provide them if you request them.

For £10 however you can obtain a copy of the will.

https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

Mojisola

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

Obtaining a copy of the will would be better

Why? There's no clue in our wills as to how much money we have now nor how much we will have by the time we die.

Brighty

Mojisola wrote: »

Why? There's no clue in our wills as to how much money we have now nor how much we will have by the time we die.

The will could leave a specific amount to the OP, rather than being left a half share of everything as they were told/assumed.
"£10.56 to financiallywet and family, the residual of my estate to JoeBlogsCatHome"

Keep_pedalling

Mojisola wrote: »

Why? There's no clue in our wills as to how much money we have now nor how much we will have by the time we die.

I had rather assumed from the opening post that they had been promised a specific amount rather than a percentage, but if my assumption is wrong then yes the will is not going to be much use.

Yorkshireman99

Mojisola wrote: »

Why? There's no clue in our wills as to how much money we have now nor how much we will have by the time we die.

But the probate copy will show the total estate value and it may well show what each beneficiary gets albeit the cash value may not be broken down.

nom_de_plume

Even if the will stated a specific sum of money there could be many reasons why that sum of money would not be available in full or even at all, even if the estate appeared 'healthy'. Both the will and a copy of the accounts would be required to establish the full story.

An estate I dealt with comprised a number of specifically bequeathed properties and a number of cash legacies. The size of the estate meant IHT was payable and due to the rules (pecking order) of distribution, the cash legacies had to be reduced in size (abated) as there was not enough cash left to pay them in full.