Inheritance act claim

Malthusian

Flugelhorn said:

I think the key point about the inheritance act is that it was a way for people who were financially dependant on the deceased but not  provided for in the will to get some money - doesn't sound like she was dependant.

It's called the "Provision for Family and Dependants" Act. It has nothing to say either way on whether a non-dependent child should "reasonably" receive some provision. The Government punted that question back to the beaks; the Act leaves the interpretation of "reasonable provision" up to the court system.

The Ilott case has established that children of the deceased can reasonably be given some provision even if they are completely estranged and never received a penny in maintenance. However the facts are very different here and I'm not saying it's a precedent or the OP's sister would be awarded a share.

I'm not disagreeing with other posters who say that her chances are very low; that's my understanding as well. (But the OP should really ask a solicitor rather than people down the pub.) Only pointing out that the IPFD Act isn't entirely about financial dependants.

Monty3160 said: Has anyone else found them selves in this situation? I’m gutted that I haven’t been able to fulfill my mums final wishes but the stress of it all is just to much !

You are fulfilling mums final wishes. When you leave someone money they can do whatever they want with it. She left you the entire estate. You in turn are (potentially) giving some of your money to your sister to save yourself a lot of stress and aggro. You can do whatever you want with your own money, same as if you were giving 20% of the inheritance to charity or using it to buy a new car.

I doubt your mother's wishes included for you to suffer months or years of stress just so 20% of the estate could sit in your bank account.

You need to take legal advice immediately if you haven't already. If your sister has already issued court proceedings then acting without legal advice and making her settlement offers is extremely ill-advised. If she says that your offer is an insult and demands 50%, are you going to give in, or tell her to see you in court? That's not a question you should have to answer by yourself.

sammyjammy

I'd give her a period of time to take the 20% or withdraw it completely and ignore her unless you receive anything from a court/solicitor.  She's bluffing.

TBagpuss

IF you haven't already, get proper advice and (subject to what that advice  is) look at making the offer of 20% formally.
I believe that this can have a major impact on costs
 
I agree that I doubt your mum would want you to be under masses of stress, and since she chose to leave the money to you, if you then chose to (in effect) gift some of oit to your sister then that is up to you.

It's difficult to judge what the outcome would be - the Act looks as whether the testator failed to make 'Reasonable Provision' for her - whether leaving her nothing was reasonable is very dependent on the situatin, but if your mum had good reasons and your sister was not dependent on her  then leaving her nothing may be entirely reasonable. 

missnosey122

Your mother sadly died Jan 21 when was probate issued because there is a 6 month time-limit from probate approval for claims for financial provision

TripleH

Also, that you have assets I believe is irrelevant to your sister's case unless the will specifically states that it does or if you were financially supported.

I would not gift any details of your assets etc unless formally requested by your solicitor or the court.

Besides you may have 50 houses but you could have 95% loans out orally of them.