Inheritance Hidden From Me By Family Members

GDB2222

Ty66ty said:

Murdina said:

As others have said, the solicitor would not have been able to "close" accounts/administration of the estate unless all the money was paid out and cleared. More likely a cheque was intercepted and paid in.

Is the account held open indefinitely? Or if there is a time limit, how long is it and where does the money go?

It's highly likely that the solicitor would have mentioned it, when you contacted him. So, the money's been distributed, although I have no idea where.

Spendless

How do you intend proving that you never received the money? The solicitor has a spreadsheet that shows yours was dealt with a couple of weeks before your brother. The solicitor who is also the executor then had nothing left in the executor account once all money was distributed.

A cheque will have been issued to your name  which you believe has been initial and surname  eg  J Smith the same initial and surname your Mother has. How can you prove after 20 years that your cheque definitely wasn't cleared through any bank account you held at the time and instead was paid into an account of your Mums (which as I've already said, could have been any account at all she had not necessarily  the joint one).

It's not that I don't believe what you're saying, I do but I can't see how you're going to get the evidence together to prove it. 

tooldle

Cheques (back in the day) were returned to the bank they were drawn on, with the details of the account to which they were paid attached. Find the cheque (if it still exists) and the mystery is solved. Failing that, forensic accounting?

Malthusian

Ty66ty said:

I know I have a very slim chance of it getting anywhere. But for my own piece of mind I have to give it the best go I can.

The way to get peace of mind over the loss of £5,000 to thieving relatives (maybe) universally involves forgetting about it and moving on.

Even if you successfully sued your brother and/or father, that would likely not be the end of the matter as they might plead poverty and refuse to pay up, and make you go through the courts again to enforce the debt. Or they could appeal. Neither of which would give you peace of mind. And you could be thousands in the hole thanks to your own legal costs.

Sea_Shell

I'd ask them bluntly and to their faces, individually, if they know anything about what happened to your cheque.

They may lie, they may implicate each other...but unless any of them admit anything, I think pursuing official avenues are pretty pointless at this stage and you could just end up throwing good money after bad.

It's going to me more about your "gut" feeling and what sort of relationship you can now have with your family going forward.

lincroft1710

tooldle said:

Cheques (back in the day) were returned to the bank they were drawn on, with the details of the account to which they were paid attached. Find the cheque (if it still exists) and the mystery is solved. Failing that, forensic accounting?

Many decades ago, I worked in a bank. Cheques were returned to the bank branch where the cheque drawer had their account, but other than the payees name on the cheque, there were no details of the account to which they had been credited. But I cannot remember for how long the bank kept the cheques. I doubt if it was for anything like 20 years.


The major problem though is that the OP has no right to access the cheque as he is not the drawer, the solicitor/executor is. Also some customers asked for their cheques to be returned to them, so the solicitor may even have asked for their cheques to be returned and probably subsequently destroyed

tooldle

Many decades ago I too worked in a bank (1988). Cheques passing through our counter or machine room had a line of info printed on their reverse.

I’d get a batch of staff cheques to review every morning with an accompanying print out giving details of the receiving bank. 

I don’t dispute the cheque might have been destroyed, more encouraging the OP to take sensible checks rather than flinging accusations around without evidence. If the info on the cheque is not available (assuming it was a cheque), then one avenue sensibly checked and crossed off his list. Electronic payments were reasonably common 20 yrs ago, although possibly charged to the recipient. 

HRH_MUngo

Is it possible that they thought the cheque was for your mum?

I am just about to receive an inheritance.  I had to provide proof of my id.  However, that may not have applied twenty years ago, and your family  may genuinely have thought it was for your mum, and she cashed it in one of her accounts.