Advice MIL died without leaving a will

Flugelhorn

She is playing silly wotsits, hopefully the niece hasn't already "spent" the promised money

You just have to keep the solicitors plodding on make sister see that she can't just divide things up any way she fancies

paul2louise

Flugelhorn said:

She is playing silly wotsits, hopefully the niece hasn't already "spent" the promised money

You just have to keep the solicitors plodding on make sister see that she can't just divide things up any way she fancies

Yep she is. I just feel so frustrated and sad that she has come to this. 

Dave_5150

paul2louise said:

I think all the things she is talking about are delaying tactics. Mil died in 2020. It's 3 years and I know she delayed sorting things because she was claiming benefit and couldn't get round to sorting things out. She is perfectly aware of all the details of accounts and never mentioned she was missing any details until my OH said he didn't want her to divide his share amongst her kids. All of a sudden she has found problems. If she was so bothered before why invite us to her wedding next month. We have been un invited now. Ironically her daughter,  our niece is also getting married next year and we are invited to her wedding. 

Exactly that. The letter from your DH's husband solicitor only asked her to confirm she would be distributing the estate lawfully nothing else.

tetrarch

In my personal opinion sending letters backwards and forwards trying to reason with your SIL will be a futile exercise and only serve to enrich your solicitor.

The previous poster's suggestions regarding the gifts-whilst-alive is an excellent one, but you need to do more. I would suggest that you head this off with two detailed time-delineated spreadsheets with lists of everything that she has alleged against you plus the things that you know were taken/given before and after the death.

Spreadsheet 1 is for the items before the death that are definitively NOT part of the estate and spreadsheet 2 of things that ARE part of the estate and therefore were (or significantly, should have been) on the probate application.

Columns like:

Item
Location (i.e. which property)
Date Removed
Person Removed
Current Location 
Value at time of removal/disposal - (NOT on SS 1)

Put as much information as you have. As you have outlined it, the undeclared will be a lot more onerous on her side than yours as she is the one who may have made an incorrect declaration. The "claiming benefit" is an interesting piece of information in and of itself and puts her, potentially, in a lot more trouble than an incorrect probate declaration.

If might be a good idea for you to put together an idea of what you think the estate is worth with estimates where you don't have good figures, just so those espectations can be conveyed to your SIL. Any info regarding the shareholdings (if not the quantities) would also put these on the table as well

This may sound like a lot of work, but you have obviously lost the persuasion route and your SIL has dug her heels in.

One thing that still puzzles me is this other account that she says your OH has. In whose name are these funds now?

Regards

Tet

paul2louise

OH has just spoken to the solicitor. Last call of the day. He explained all these delay tactics with her and she suggested that what previous posters have said. That OH emails sis with a full detailed account of everything gifted/ taken before and after MIL death. 

RAS

Make sure that list includes, as much as possible, everything taken from Bingham by sis as well.

And talk to the solicitor about wording something like.

"As administrator, you have a responsibility to manage and distribute the estate in line with the laws of intestacy. 

The estate includes only those things owned by mum at the time of her death.

Items mum sold or gave away at the time she downsized from Caversall are NOT part of the estate, and cannot be included in the inventory or application for probate."


 

prowla

If Mum had wanted anything other than the 50/50 split, she would(should)'ve made a will to say so.

I've told my sons that I'm not making a will and when I go they should split it equally (and I hope they work together to sort it out).

stuhse

This may help you. It appears to say there iis a 2 year time limit on varying how an estate can be divided up in the event of there being no will.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/family/death-and-wills/who-can-inherit-if-there-is-no-will-the-rules-of-intestacy/

Rearranging the way the estate is shared out

It is possible to rearrange the way property is shared out when someone dies without leaving a will, provided this is done within two years of the death. This is called making a deed of family arrangement or variation. All the people who would inherit under the rules of intestacy must agree.

RAS

allconnected said:

Any arrangement to alter the distribution under the intestacy ruled must be entered into within two years of the death.

so its too late for your husbands sister to achieve what she wants to do this way. She must distribute the assets 50:50 and it’s up to your husband if he wishes to give any of his inheritance away as a gift.

and even with Covid, three years is ridiculous. He really should consider pushing for this to be settled.

As previously advised.

Spendless

RAS said:

allconnected said:

Any arrangement to alter the distribution under the intestacy ruled must be entered into within two years of the death.

so its too late for your husbands sister to achieve what she wants to do this way. She must distribute the assets 50:50 and it’s up to your husband if he wishes to give any of his inheritance away as a gift.

and even with Covid, three years is ridiculous. He really should consider pushing for this to be settled.

As previously advised.

Worth re-iterating though. I'd completely forgotten this had been posted about, possibly worth fetching up this point with the solicitor too if it keeps on-going.