Beneficiary Rights?

Ameee007

Elsien, you misunderstand, I gave no indication that I was 'upset' at being last on my late Aunt's will. Thank you for your response never the less.

dresdendave

Ameee007 wrote: »

Hi Everyone - A very close Aunt of mine died in June 2016 and weirdly enough she has appointed my eldest brother and his wife as POA - now I have received a copy of my aunt's will and I her estate is to be split even across 11 members of my family - all listed in her will and I am oddly last (I was always her favorite niece!) At the top of the list are my eldest brother, his wife and their 2 children whom get a 1/3 of the estate.

Do you mean the estate is split evenly between eleven relatives?


If that's the case why does it matter what order they are named?


If your brother, his wife and two children are sharing a third of the estate, that means they (four people) are each getting one twelfth (8.33%) of the estate, in other words they are missing out on part of their inheritance. If the remaining seven beneficiaries share two thirds they would each get 9.52%.


Could you perhaps clarify the exact breakdown of the estate distribution as I'm confused by how it is worded in your original post.

Margot123

As has already been said, the order of named beneficiaries on a will doesn't necessarily show 'an order of favourites'. Most people are listed in either alphabetical or (more customary) age order eg eldest son/daughter named first with their children coming after the youngest son/daughter.

Land_Registry

Re the house sale only - have you merely checked the price paid data or have you searched the address online to check the register?

And was the property already registered before being sold? Namely had she owned it for say 30+ years and it was unregistered? If it was then I woukd not expect the registration and details to be available online yet

Search the address and if no information available I'd suggest the purchase has yet to be registered so you may have to wait a while yet.

Ameee007

Dresdendave - breakdown as stated reads:-
'My trustees shall hold my residuary estate upon trust to divide it or treat it as being divided into eleven equal parts of equal value and to hold those parts as follows:-'
(then listed names of 11 family members)

dresdendave

Ameee007 wrote: »

Dresdendave - breakdown as stated reads:-
'My trustees shall hold my residuary estate upon trust to divide it or treat it as being divided into eleven equal parts of equal value and to hold those parts as follows:-'
(then listed names of 11 family members)

What confused me was your original post seemed to imply that your brother etc were helping themselves to more than they were entitled to.


However if he, his wife and child 1 and child 2 are on the list of eleven people then they have not yet taken their full entitlement.


You also mentioned the will being "tampered with", can you clarify what you suspect to have been changed?

konark

If your aunt's house was recently on the market it would have been on Rightmove, Zoopla etc or advertised through an estate agent. A 'private sale' would be quite rare for a probate property as it would leave the executors open to claims they sold it too cheaply and not at an open-market price.

As Mojisola has pointed out, when you have a copy of the will with the witnesses signitures and names on it why ring up the solicitors to ask who the witnesses were?

As for the distribution the 'executor's year' is over and they should be getting on with this now that the house is sold. As a residual beneficiary you have a right to see the final statement of accounts

Robin9

If the will was signed by your aunt in the solicitors office it would be usual if the witnesses were the firms secretaries. All they are doing is certifying the signature.