Beneficiary Has Taken Money From Estate Before Bereavement

Russianbar

I am the administrator of my father's estate it should be quite straightforward and a simple division of the estate between 4 children of the estate including me. there is now IHT to be paid as I have used the Spousal Allowance of my late mother.  I have a small problem which I hope you can help me with. One of the beneficiaries recieved an amount of money from my father before he passed my father made it plain to my sister that it should be deducted from his inheritance (it was around 10k). My sister has suggested the remaining three should each take this same amount from the estate and then divide what is left between the 4 of us, is this the correct way of doing it and how should I show it in any estate accounts?

Keep_pedalling

They have not taken money from the estate your father gave them the money. You asked the same question on your other thread, so I will refer you to the answer I left there.

Baldytyke88

Was it a gift that he was legally allowed to make?

FlorayG

No the money was not taken from the estate. It only becomes 'the estate' after the person dies.
If your father gave it as a loan then that needs to be repaid ( or the amount given reduced accordingly by agreement) however, if it was a loan there should be some paperwork confirming that. If it was a gift then the estate is not concerned as it was given before there even existed 'an estate' so the estate has no claim on it.
Also be aware that what was written and witnessed in the will takes precedence legally over any verbal instruction, so you would be breaking the terms of the will if you reduced the sibling's payout on a verbal message

Russianbar

Keep_pedalling said:

They have not taken money from the estate your father gave them the money. You asked the same question on your other thread, so I will refer you to the answer I left there.

Thanks I realised I was better off starting a new thread

Russianbar

FlorayG said:

No the money was not taken from the estate. It only becomes 'the estate' after the person dies.
If your father gave it as a loan then that needs to be repaid ( or the amount given reduced accordingly by agreement) however, if it was a loan there should be some paperwork confirming that. If it was a gift then the estate is not concerned as it was given before there even existed 'an estate' so the estate has no claim on it.
Also be aware that what was written and witnessed in the will takes precedence legally over any verbal instruction, so you would be breaking the terms of the will if you reduced the sibling's payout on a verbal message

There was no will

FlorayG

If there is no will then the rules of intestacy apply 
"...the part ( in this case, all of it, because there is no surviving spouse) of the estate apportioned to your children will be shared equally amongst them"
Unless it was officially a loan then the previous money one sibling had has to be discounted. You may not think that 'fair' but legal often isn't fair
Have you discussed with the sibling concerned? I'm assuming you have and they say no, they want their fair quarter of the estate? Otherwise it can be solved amicably anyway