Inheritance act claim nightmare

subway98

My dad passed away last year, leaving everything to me in his will. I am one of 6, 3 of us lived with dad sometime in our lives (4 dads, 6 kids)  I lived with him from birth till 7, then again from 12 onwards. Anyway, my brother who isn’t my dads kid, has put a inheritance claim in 1 week after probate ended. We sort of knew he would, because he’s vindictive. The 3 elder kids, only 2 of us get on, do things together etc. The other 3 youngest are in contact with the brother. So it’s like 4 against 2. Anyway, under inheritance act claims, because my so called brother was treated as a child, he can put a claim in. The eldest isn’t. He’s claiming he never knew dad wasn’t his biological. Even though I have proof he was told by the mother. (She died years ago, no idea what date or where she’s buried. I left her and the 4 younger ones when I was 12. Went 20+ years without contact- she wasn’t a great mum to be honest) He was told by the uncles, the mother and the sister. My dad is on his Birth cert, but that means nothing. Because dad could potentially of been a victim of parental fraud- we’ll never know now. It’s always been in the background, even my grandmother wrote that she didn’t believe he was my dads. And to look at him, he looks nothing like my family side. We have strong facial features. You can see we’re all very related. 

So now I’m faced with this huge problem of the brother and his claim. 

Has anyone had anything similar and what was the outcome?

I inherit a house and some money. But the brother has requested more or less all of the estate £140k of £168k. 

Should also note, I was gifting him £5k and £6k to the eldest. This was from the cash available. Not sale of the property. So I thought I was being reasonable. Covid put a stop to the sale of the property and I now have someone living there rent free, so they can save for a mortgage deposit. So all that’s available was the cash in bank/solicitor bank. 

This has hurt me so much, to point that once this is all settled. I never want to see, hear or speak to him again. Not that relationships were all Rosie to begin with, this has fractured those cracks even further. 

Linton

England or Scotland? The rules are different. 

subway98

Sorry England 

wilfred30

subway98 said:

My dad is on his Birth cert, but that means nothing. 

Are you sure about that?

subway98

wilfred30 said:

subway98 said:

My dad is on his Birth cert, but that means nothing. 

Are you sure about that?

I’ve even said we’d go down the DNA route. My dad could of been a victim of paternity fraud. 

TonyMMM

If he was brought up by your father as his child, then proving he is not a biological child of his will make little difference to an Inheritance Act claim. Whether his action will be successful or not is another matter.

subway98

TonyMMM said:

If he was brought up by your father as his child, then proving he is not a biological child of his will make little difference to an Inheritance Act claim. Whether his action will be successful or not is another matter.

His claim is under ‘treated as’ not as a child. 

However, he was only treated as a child like my sister was. But she’s doing nothing about it. 

In the latter years, I have evidence he wasn’t treated as a child. No birthday or Christmas cards etc. 

So frustrating- I need to find someone who has been through this before. I don’t know what to expect. 

Why write a will, if anyone can contest it..

ames1010

This sounds like a nightmare for you. Did the inheritance claim come from his solicitor? Have they mentioned mediation? The court would want to see that of mediation has been offered then both parties have engaged in this process. So, if the threat of court is there from your brother, but you haven’t received anything from the court yet- wait to see if his solicitor offers mediation. But in mediation, if it gets that far, do not agree to what your brother requires from the estate if you aren’t comfortable with that amount. Your brother will need to understand that if he wants more and takes you to court under this act to get more he will most certainly not end up with £140,000 as the court fees etc could eat away at that amount considerably. As you are the executor, you will - I think, need to get a different solicitor if you do have to go through mediation/ contentious probate/litigation.  

Keep strong, and I would seek half an hour free advice on contentious probate as soon as possible. 

subway98

ames1010 said:

This sounds like a nightmare for you. Did the inheritance claim come from his solicitor? Have they mentioned mediation? The court would want to see that of mediation has been offered then both parties have engaged in this process. So, if the threat of court is there from your brother, but you haven’t received anything from the court yet- wait to see if his solicitor offers mediation. But in mediation, if it gets that far, do not agree to what your brother requires from the estate if you aren’t comfortable with that amount. Your brother will need to understand that if he wants more and takes you to court under this act to get more he will most certainly not end up with £140,000 as the court fees etc could eat away at that amount considerably. As you are the executor, you will - I think, need to get a different solicitor if you do have to go through mediation/ contentious probate/litigation.  

Keep strong, and I would seek half an hour free advice on contentious probate as soon as possible. 

Hello, 

no mediation mentioned. This letter came to my house, from my brother solicitor- even though he knows my solicitor. No mention of mediation. We replied pointing out his 32+ claims in his summary. Did it short and sweet, my solicitor said to stave off the claim as we’d not done ADR yet and his solicitor rings and leaves a message saying they’d put a claim in with court, 1 week after probate ended. 

So I’m stuck in limbo now. We responded in good time. His original letter didn’t say how much he wanted. They didn’t even do their own research and find the will and grant Of probate. They wanted us to provide them with everything. 

Neither of us can afford to go court. I might at a push, I have other family I can call on for fees etc. My brother is certainly on a no win no fee arrangement.

if his solicitor said they’d put a claim in over 3 weeks ago now, would I of received anything from them yet? 

ames1010

You would like to think that you would have some idea after three weeks so I don’t know why it’s taking so long- all I know from my own experience that it can take weeks to hear anything from solicitors. It is so incredibly frustrating when we are so consumed with our thoughts and worries. It’s a job to them, but to us, this is our lives being made to feel highly unpleasant by greedy family members! 

If your brother’s solicitor has said that they have put in a claim - then in my opinion they are going about it the wrong way because the court would want to see that they have tried to resolve this before it gets to court and I thought that this would be in the form of mediation? 

Maybe they are trying to put huge pressure on you to agree to something before court?  I have had the same done to me- a relative putting huge pressure on me regarding an inheritance- but I have had no court letters or solicitors letters! Just a heap of poison pen letters!! 

Is ADR ‘ dispute resolution?’  So again, that would cost money like mediation!!! He should foot the bill as this is what he wants! 

Good luck and hopefully someone on the site can offer you advice based on their experiences. 

Marcon

subway98 said:

So now I’m faced with this huge problem of the brother and his claim. 

The chances of such a claim succeeding are close to zero unless your brother can show that your father was supporting him financially at the time of your father's death.

Why write a will, if anyone can contest it..

To avoid the rules of intestacy.