Advice Sought on Slightly Unusual Inheritance Situation

metabolicallybisturbile

Hello, I have an inheritance situation I would like advice on please. I will try to lay it out as best I can. This pertains to my fathers side of the family who I have only seen once or twice in the last 35 years.

Grandmother dies Oct 2016
Has left a will.
Has 4 sons.
1 son dies, my father on Jan 2017
Father has no assets or home, no other children, no partner or wife, my mother and he divorced when I was around 5 and I am now 39. Father left no will.

Probate has recently been granted on Grandmothers estate.

Grandmothers will states her 4 sons have a quarter share in each of her 2 properties, etc. 1 here in England and 1 in Portugal. After some effort I got the probate paperwork and there are no debts or liabilities. Estate is valued at around 500k which is mostly property value.

Administrator of probate and Executor of the will is one of her sons. He along with my other 2 uncles arranged a meeting where I was offered 40k to sign off on my interest. I said I'd think about it and a 2nd meeting was arranged where the offer was upped to 50k.

In the meeting they stated there could be a potential claim by the care home my father was in for 9 years for a shortfall or that he wasn't in receipt of all or some benefit. As far as I know he did get DLA, this info was a little vague and I wish I'd pursued this more. Theres no way my father could have afforded care home costs for sure. This was their reason for offering such a lower figure vs estate worth as they state they would shoulder the cost of the care claim should it happen and I walk with 50k.

It was after this I asked for paperwork to satisfy myself the offer was fair, I had trouble getting this from them and finally after emails, texts and hand delivering a letter their solicitor gave me the paperwork.

They also stated that any further questions I might have I should seek independant legal advice. This makes me assume they have some plan or way to deny me in full or partly ie. the Portugese property. I'm not really included in the info loop as my uncles are so have little idea of how things are proceeding or if the UK property is up for sale.

I feel I should get what my father would have received was he still alive and deal with or fight a potential claim myself. I have stated my interest is to be bought out of the properties but no reply.

I'm just wondering where to go now and thought I'd exhaust my own research before going full on with a solicitor.

Thank you and best regards!

Yorkshireman99

They are trying it on big time! As executors they have the responsibility to gather in the assets and pay the debts. The estate then has to be distributed according to the will. The executors have no discretion. The Portuguese property cannot be disposed of by the English will. If there is no Portuguese property has to be disposed of by the Portuguese intestacy laws. Who is administering your father's estate? As you are the only relative you are the one who would be able to apply for LOA.

getmore4less

take their advice and get independent legal advice.

Unless there are unusual terms in the grandmothers will his estate retains the beneficial interest in that left by the grandmother.


I suggest that it may be worth looking at the background of your fathers estate, initially avoiding what is know as intermedling to establish if there are any debts.

If the funeral was paid by the state then that will be one claim on the assets from the grandmothers estate.

metabolicallybisturbile

My father had nothing when he died and the day he died probate hadn't been granted yet for grandmother who is the one with 2 properties. What I'm not sure about is, is he considered to have assets regardless of probate status of grandmother and if so should I apply for probate on my father?

I'm sure my uncle (admin) said my father was in probate but I thought only next of kin could do that. Regardless theres nothing on the gov probate site for my father but might be too early? I am aware of the caveat and could be used if they have initiated probate of my father.

Yorkshireman99

metabolicallybisturbile wrote: »

My father had nothing when he died and the day he died probate hadn't been granted yet for grandmother who is the one with 2 properties. What I'm not sure about is, is he considered to have assets regardless of probate status of grandmother and if so should I apply for probate on my father?

I'm sure my uncle (admin) said my father was in probate but I thought only next of kin could do that. Regardless theres nothing on the gov probate site for my father but might be too early? I am aware of the caveat and could be used if they have initiated probate of my father.

If your grandmother predeceased your father then his estate includes the inheritance from her. Since your father died intestate then Letters of Administration must be appliued to administer the estate. You are first in line to do that and I don't believe your uncle could get these. Wills only appear on the GOV probate site once probate has been granted. I suugest you ring the local proabte office and ask. Note that there are a number of companies with Probate Office in their names that are NOT offical so avoid them.

metabolicallybisturbile

I'll definately get onto the probate office tomorrow and see if I can find out.

The only terms on grandmothers will is the 28 day predecease clause. My uncle who is adminstering/executor had power of attorny over both grandmother and my father when alive and the will asked for my fathers share to be adminstered by the executor. The will is pretty straight forward in its wording how it states equal share for her 4 sons on each property.

Thanks so far guys. I'll update any new info as I get it.

Yorkshireman99

This link shows the contact details.


https://www.lawontheweb.co.uk/personal/probate-offices