Can someone get their share of a will 30 years later?

Brimble

A friend of mine was visiting her parents in Poland this week, and they got talking about the distant past. In a nutshell, it seems her father and his sister were supposed to take equal shares of their dad’s inheritance after he died in 1984, but in fact the sister (eventually) took all of it, and I’m wondering whether or not I can help them to do anything about it. A bit more detail...

Let’s just call the ‘players’ Dad, Son and Daughter. Round about 1959/60, Dad was on a military ship in England, and went AWOL. About 10 years later, so around 1969/70, he went to Canada to set up a new life. In 1974, Dad arranged for Daughter to come from Poland to Canada. Son remained in Poland. (The plan was to bring the family over to Canada one by one, as it was expensive to do, and because of the expense, and also changing travelling restrictions, it never happened).

In 1984, Dad died. (Daughter did not tell Son this, he discovered via another family member). In his will, it stated that Daughter and Son should have an equal share of his possessions, which for the most part consisted of two properties on the same street in Canada (British Columbia to be precise). Son (in Poland) eventually managed to contact Daughter (in Canada), but because of travelling and other restrictions in place at the time, Son could not go to Canada, so for the time being, Daughter managed the properties and any other investments etc. (Son tried many times to get a visa, and has the records of the applications – but at that time, up until 1989 when Poland became a genuinely free country, movements in and out were extremely restricted). Many letters were exchanged between Son and Daughter over the next couple of years, with Son requesting some way to access his share of the inheritance, and Daughter each time responding with a reason why it was not possible at that point in time. Daughter instead continued to keep Son informed for a couple of years of her activities in relation to her late Dad’s assets. However after a couple of years, Daughter informed Son that she was no longer prepared to keep him informed, and all contact from her ceased.

In more recent years, my friend (Son’s child, so Daughter’s niece), not knowing any of this, found Daughter on Facebook and sent her a message along the lines of ‘wow, you’re my auntie and we’ve never met, how are you?’ etc, and was surprised when auntie instantly ‘blocked’ her. Now I guess we know why that was... This week, my friend looked on Google Maps, and it appears that one of the two properties has been demolished and replaced by what looks like a bigger residential building. The other property is still there. Daughter is easily traceable – I have found her and her children on Facebook, and have made a note (with pics) of all of their FB friends, so it would be difficult for them to disappear again now...

So, a few questions:
• Does ‘Son’ still have any right to his half of the assets left by 'Dad'?
• How would his ‘share’ be calculated, if ‘Daughter’ has merged Dad’s assets with her own (which appears possible).
• How should he go about obtaining them, particularly if ‘Daughter’ rejects all contact?
• Which country’s law would prevail? Presumably Canadian?
• What are the chances of achieving a good outcome? (‘Dad’ does not have lots of spare money, in fact the family struggle financially; I would be happy to help with say a couple of grand if I had a 95% chance of getting it back, but obviously there is no point ‘flogging a dead horse’ if it’s going to be too difficult to achieve anything).
• More generally speaking, what happens to assets when they are left to two people equally, but one isn’t contactable for many years? Is the other one just meant to sit on the assets for 50 years and wait? Arguably, it seems unfair on them if they have to manage the assets, but only actually ever own half... (I’m trying to see her side here).

Would welcome any ideas or guidance that anyone might be able to provide – thanks. 

f.o.d.

I'd think that would be Canadian law and the daughter's actions have been truly despicable.

Brimble

But is there anything he can realistically do about it?

pinkshoes

Hire a Canadian inheritance lawyer?

Browntoa

good luck financing a Canadian AND a Polish solicitor


canadian Law will apply as the death occurred there

bouicca21

I doubt anyone on this UK site can advise on Canadian law.

Brimble

Ok so ignore the Canadian thing for a minute - if the entire saga had happened in the UK, could someone now recruit a UK lawyer, show him the will etc, and take up a case against the sister even though it happened over 30 years ago? What would the courts normally conclude in such a situation?

pinkshoes

Brimble wrote: »

Ok so ignore the Canadian thing for a minute - if the entire saga had happened in the UK, could someone now recruit a UK lawyer, show him the will etc, and take up a case against the sister even though it happened over 30 years ago? What would the courts normally conclude in such a situation?

In the UK, if the estate is unclaimed, you have 12 years to put in a claim. Longer for some circumstances.

If it was claimed, and was not shared as stated, then you would sue the other person who claimed too much.

To do this you would need to know the value of the estate at the time of death, and then probably start with a letter giving them a reasonable timeframe to pay up before court action. Depending on the value and knowledge of the legal system, a lawyer might be required.

I don't think there is a time limit.

Malthusian

As others have said he should consult a Canadian lawyer. In a way it sounds relatively straightforward. Either the son will own half of the new residential building or, if the daughter sold it to developers, he is owed half of the cash. If he still has a copy of the Will and so on - and especially if he still has the correspondence with the sister - it should be straightforward to prove.

Of course the sister should not have sold or demolished the buildings without the consent of the other owner but it hardly matters at this point. He should just ask for the money.

More generally speaking, what happens to assets when they are left to two people equally, but one isn’t contactable for many years?

Technically speaking the sister should have got her brother to sign a power of attorney allowing her to manage the property in his capacity as well as her own. But given the situation, this is really splitting hairs.

Is the other one just meant to sit on the assets for 50 years and wait? Arguably, it seems unfair on them if they have to manage the assets, but only actually ever own half...

If she didn't want to manage his share for free, then she should have sold the properties and left him to look after his half. Or if they absolutely had to keep the properties, formed a company to own the buildings owned by each of them, which would pay a salary to her.

jackyann

Leaving aside the moral issues here.........
It seems to me that there are 2 relatively straightforward things to do.

Find some sort of Canadian forum, legal advice site or similar and ask the same question ( but cut out a lot of backstory)

If it looks as if there is a possibility, then contact a Canadian solicitor, who can give an initial opinion online or telephone. Solicitors who do this usually have a flat rate fee.

The family can then decide how to proceed, as they will have a much clearer picture.

Ziggazee

Contact a Canadian lawyer.


And cease all the ridiculous Facebook stalking....it's very Jeremy Kyle...