Executors not saying what I have been left

Marcon

techphobe said:

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 all fine and dandy until an unsuspected creditor pops up and suddenly...

Managing expectations is just as important as being 'open and honest', especially when it's far too early in the process to be sure that you are being 'open and honest', as opposed to genuinely in the dark but naively pressing on regardless in the fond belief that the dear departed would have wanted you to do so. It's not a matter of respect, but reality.

Better by far to say nothing at all until you are much further down the road.

Savvy_Sue

Minieggsforever said:

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! 

But just telling someone x% is useless without saying x% of how much. Perhaps worse than useless because they may imagine x% of A Very Big Number, when actually you know it's a very modest number. And the risks of identifying how much have already been explained: A Very Big Number may suddenly become a very small number. 

And they do potentially need to value 'all my jewellery', and it could take some time to gather it together and get that valuation. MIL has bits and pieces all over the place, most of it worthless but who knows with your godmother. Yes, it's still been left to you, but IF any of it is valuable, then that value needs to be included in the probate submission.