Executors not saying what I have been left

Minieggsforever

Hi everyone,

Would love some advice here!

My godmother - who has no children - died in December last year.  

One of the executors told me in January she had left me her jewellery- which I was very touched by.

At her memorial service last week, the other executor (step daughter) said in the middle of the crowded reception that godmother had also left me a substantial amount of cash but estate very complicated.

i have since followed up ( very gently and politely) with both executors on the exact nature of what was left and they have both refused to share any more information with me - they say they cannot tell me anything else as the probate process/ valuing the estate has only just started.

i totally appreciate they won't be able to share exact amount/ timeframes but I don't understand why they won't share my godmother's wishes / what she left me.

They both said  I should just be patient and they will share more when they can.  They wouldn't really explain why they won't share more info on what I was left.
There is a history of contested wills in this family!

I was wondering what people thought - am considering legal advice but don't want to escalate/ cause bad feelings but I do think there might be more going on!

Thanks in advance 😊.

elsien

I think you just need to be patient. There is no legal obligation on them to tell you anything. It may be that you’ve been left a residual amount which until the estate is sorted they have no clue how much it will be.
If your godmother only died in December, that is a very short time frame to expect the executives to have really sorted anything out.
There is no point getting legal advice until probate has been sorted.

Minieggsforever

Thank you 🙏🏻!

elsien

If probate is needed, and they have indicated that it is, once it’s been granted then the will becomes a publicly accessible document which you could get a copy of if you needed to, 

Spendless

Minieggsforever said:

Hi everyone,

Would love some advice here!

My godmother - who has no children - died in December last year.  

One of the executors told me in January she had left me her jewellery- which I was very touched by.

At her memorial service last week, the other executor (step daughter) said in the middle of the crowded reception that godmother had also left me a substantial amount of cash but estate very complicated.

i have since followed up ( very gently and politely) with both executors on the exact nature of what was left and they have both refused to share any more information with me - they say they cannot tell me anything else as the probate process/ valuing the estate has only just started.

i totally appreciate they won't be able to share exact amount/ timeframes but I don't understand why they won't share my godmother's wishes / what she left me.

They both said  I should just be patient and they will share more when they can.  They wouldn't really explain why they won't share more info on what I was left.
There is a history of contested wills in this family!

I was wondering what people thought - am considering legal advice but don't want to escalate/ cause bad feelings but I do think there might be more going on!

Thanks in advance 😊.

Unsure if you mean your family or your Godmother's by 'this family' but I suspect that is the reason why they don't wish to share since they are under no legal obligation to do so.

In time if things remain the same I will be in a similar position to your Godmother's executors. I am the named executor of a will where someone has been left out as a beneficiary  in favour of others. I don't trust the left out party not to try and create a problem, so for that reason I won't be revealing in advance who the beneficiaries are or what any  are to receive. 

Sea_Shell

I think it works like this...

If you have been left specific items or an amount of cash in the will, then this information will be available once probate has been granted, as the will becomes a public document.   They have no obligation to give you this information.

If you are a residual beneficiary, then you are entitled to see the final estate accounts, which would then show your "share" coming from the final balance, after all other costs and bequests have been made.

Newly_retired

My husband died a year ago. It took six months to gather enough information to apply for Probate, which was granted 12 weeks later. As an executor I am still not in a position to give beneficiaries a precise figure. 

Malthusian

As others have said there is no reason to think anything is untoward.

The godmother may have left a badly written Will on which the executors need to take legal advice to work out exactly who is entitled to exactly what. They may still be ascertaining whether the estate has debts. If the estate hasn't yet been valued they won't yet know the Inheritance Tax bill and the effect this has on everyone's shares. It may not yet be certain that there is enough money to pay out all the pecuniary legacies, in which case they may have to be pro-rated. 

And it's very possible that none of these are the case, but the executors are aware that the more information you feed people, the more they demand.

I wouldn't have done anything differently from the executors other than to leave out the word "substantial".

There is a history of contested wills in this family!

All the more reason for the executors to not get the beneficiaries too excited. If somebody is liable to challenge the Will then that could mean a lot of money coming out of the estate that would reduce the beneficiaries' shares (even if it was groundless). It could also mean that it takes years before the estate is distributed.

Marcon

Minieggsforever said:

Hi everyone,

Would love some advice here!

My godmother - who has no children - died in December last year.  

One of the executors told me in January she had left me her jewellery- which I was very touched by.

At her memorial service last week, the other executor (step daughter) said in the middle of the crowded reception that godmother had also left me a substantial amount of cash but estate very complicated.

Big mistake to tell you that so early in what is likely to be a very long process.

Minieggsforever said:

They both said  I should just be patient and they will share more when they can.  They wouldn't really explain why they won't share more info on what I was left.
There is a history of contested wills in this family!

I was wondering what people thought - am considering legal advice but don't want to escalate/ cause bad feelings but I do think there might be more going on!

Why should they explain anything at this stage? You say you are considering legal advice, but what exactly do you think that would achieve? No sane lawyer would take something which (certainly at this stage) appears to be a complete non-case based on nothing but impatience (a very common trait in beneficiaries and entirely understandable!).

Diarise to follow up in a year if you've heard nothing further.

techphobe

I am currently executor of my dad’s will. Dad is possibly a closer relationship than step mother but potentially not. Once the funeral and house clearance were sorted I took a few months to just breathe and grieve before starting on the estate paperwork. He had good records and I was already acting as his POA but I probably only got the initial valuation of the estate ready 5 months after he died. I can imagine it can take a lot longer if the records are messy and you don’t already know the person’s finances.

All my dad’s beneficiaries are my immediate family.  However, if there had been a beneficiary outside the family I think I would have said to them that ‘the will says you get X% of the estate and, based on what I know at the moment, that appears to be £100k.’ I would probably take the most conservative value ie tell them £100k if the current calcs were £120k so I didn’t have to deliver bad news later.  Executors probably have no obligation to do this but I see it a courtesy as the deceased obv thought highly of the beneficiary so I would also treat them respectfully.  However I class myself as someone with integrity who is open and honest.  What is your relationship like with the step daughter? Do you trust her to execute the will correctly?

Minieggsforever

techphobe said:

I am currently executor of my dad’s will. Dad is possibly a closer relationship than step mother but potentially not. Once the funeral and house clearance were sorted I took a few months to just breathe and grieve before starting on the estate paperwork. He had good records and I was already acting as his POA but I probably only got the initial valuation of the estate ready 5 months after he died. I can imagine it can take a lot longer if the records are messy and you don’t already know the person’s finances.

All my dad’s beneficiaries are my immediate family.  However, if there had been a beneficiary outside the family I think I would have said to them that ‘the will says you get X% of the estate and, based on what I know at the moment, that appears to be £100k.’ I would probably take the most conservative value ie tell them £100k if the current calcs were £120k so I didn’t have to deliver bad news later.  Executors probably have no obligation to do this but I see it a courtesy as the deceased obv thought highly of the beneficiary so I would also treat them respectfully.  However I class myself as someone with integrity who is open and honest.  What is your relationship like with the step daughter? Do you trust her to execute the will correctly?

techphobe said:

I am currently executor of my dad’s will. Dad is possibly a closer relationship than step mother but potentially not. Once the funeral and house clearance were sorted I took a few months to just breathe and grieve before starting on the estate paperwork. He had good records and I was already acting as his POA but I probably only got the initial valuation of the estate ready 5 months after he died. I can imagine it can take a lot longer if the records are messy and you don’t already know the person’s finances.

All my dad’s beneficiaries are my immediate family.  However, if there had been a beneficiary outside the family I think I would have said to them that ‘the will says you get X% of the estate and, based on what I know at the moment, that appears to be £100k.’ I would probably take the most conservative value ie tell them £100k if the current calcs were £120k so I didn’t have to deliver bad news later.  Executors probably have no obligation to do this but I see it a courtesy as the deceased obv thought highly of the beneficiary so I would also treat them respectfully.  However I class myself as someone with integrity who is open and honest.  What is your relationship like with the step daughter? Do you trust her to execute the will correctly?

This is where I'm coming from - If I was in that position, I would say what you are suggesting... can't tell you exactly how much as working on that and no timeframes , but she left you x%. 

I really appreciate everyone's input here - very comforting!