Inheritance Tax Wasn't Divided Between Beneficiaries Correctly?

Brynsam

FreshFruit said:

I'll try and keep this straightforward. 

Clear as mud, I'm afraid.

Person unfortunately passed and left a property portfolio to 3 beneficiaries (2 executers, person a & b). Their will stated something along the lines of 'all my assets shall be considered as 100 shares and 60 will go to person a, 20 to b and 20 to c'. 

The properties were considered at the value they were bought at many years prior. Person b & c took a couple properties, swiftly sold them and moved on - leaving person 'a' with the inheritance tax. I believe they took slightly more than their share and paid no inheritance tax, person 'a' wasn't receiving the best advice and trusted b & c. 

The tax was agreed to be paid off over 10years (with interest) with income from the remaining properties solely by person 'a'.

A couple years later the HMRC decided that the inheritance tax wasn't calculated correctly to begin with and revalued the estate (I'm unsure if they calculated the sold properties that b&c took). They doubled the inheritance tax and wanted missed payments back with interest in a short time, causing person 'a' to remortgage one of the properties. 

I hope it's somewhat clear what happened here, two people took a bigger share than they should have and contributed nothing to the inheritance tax. I was discussing this with somebody today and they were fuming, they said I should advice person 'a' to calculate how much they lost out on and pursue person b&c. This all started 10 years ago and the last of the tax has just been paid, is it too late? 

Why are you getting involved at all, let alone discussing in imprecise terms with third parties who clearly don't have any real grasp of matters? If they did, the one piece of 'advice' they could reliably deliver would be for the 'wronged' party to get professional advice - now. 

TripleH

Also, would B as an executor (here 2 people) still have liability For failing to execute their duties correctly? (I doubt resigning as an executor after distributing the estate will exempt you from your duties or liabilities if you failed to act within your remit).
Professional advice is needed along with the details of the estate at death. This is money well spent but it needs to be done asap because HMRC won't hang around on this.