Beneficiaries

Jellybean_kittymorgizfud20051996

Hi all
I was a beneficiary and gifted money.
A year later I was contacted by the solicitor firm dealing with this to say the IHT wasn’t paid and they had made a mistake and I was given too much and they want it back or face court action. 

The joint executor was also unaware this hasn’t been paid and is also a beneficiary. Probate was done and it was 18 months since my last payment ( as I was given two payments)

Where do I stand legally as I no longer have the funds. I was told they could put an order on my new home which will later impact on my remortgage. 

Help appreciated 

p00hsticks

Were you a residual beneficary (i.e. gifted a share of what was left in the estate rather than a set sum) ?
And if so were you given a final statement of accounts for the estate as you were entitled to when the estate was finally  wound up ?

Jellybean_kittymorgizfud20051996

I was gifted an equal share of the estate once the assets were sold. I received one payment as they said there were enough funds to cover IHT. 

Then another payment but we have since been told that the solicitor requested to pay by instalments to HMRC and should have paid in full before money was distributed and they have admitted this and will cover the tax for now.  The amount I have to pay back is more than the 2nd payment I received 

I didn’t get any statements to my knowledge and I’ve checked emails. 

I was told there would be other funds when the last few items were sold and out of this money, we all agreed the executor could bill for expenses so this came as a surprise to us all 

Sorry, this is all new to me. 

Thank you 

Keep_pedalling

If a mistake has been made then you will need to pay the over payment back, but request a copy of the estate accounts before you do.

Savvy_Sue

I would also request making payments by instalments (depending on how much we're talking about), and I trust the joint executor has made a formal complaint about this failure by the solicitor. 

Jellybean_kittymorgizfud20051996

Yes, a formal complaint has been made but the funds are due back. 

It’s a huge amount and I invested in a home so no way of making instalments 

just a shock that this isn’t checked before making payments then asking for a lot back after so long. Different decisions would have been made esp as no way of checking or being part of the process 

the solicitors admitted their mistake but the insurance company is taking action to reclaim

scary really that this can happen. 

Thank you all for the help 

Keep_pedalling

Jellybean_kittymorgizfud20051996 said:

Yes, a formal complaint has been made but the funds are due back. 

It’s a huge amount and I invested in a home so no way of making instalments 

just a shock that this isn’t checked before making payments then asking for a lot back after so long. Different decisions would have been made esp as no way of checking or being part of the process 

the solicitors admitted their mistake but the insurance company is taking action to reclaim

scary really that this can happen. 

Thank you all for the help 

Which insurance company? 

Hoenir

Did you mean to say the HMRC ? 

Underpaid IHT will be incurring interest. 

Jellybean_kittymorgizfud20051996

HMRC haven’t been paid the full amount of IHT. As the solicitor made the mistake, their firm are paying the interest for now. The solicitors insurance company are requesting payments back

thank you 

bobster2

You say it's a huge amount. It's difficult to imagine how a competent solicitor helping deal with an estate could get things so wrong that a huge amount of IHT remained unpaid.

Have they explained what mistake was made? And how it came to light? E.g. did HMRC challenge something months after the original submission?

Jellybean_kittymorgizfud20051996

I believe a large amount was paid but then when they sold other assets, the outstanding IHT wasn’t paid and they distributed the 2nd smaller payment. The solicitor asked for the tax to be paid in instalments but it was a mistake so the 2nd payment and overpayment given to us was too high. They had admitted this but their insurance company wants payments back. 

We were told the rest of some properties were being sold and another final payment to us would be received. 

The solicitor didn’t deal with me directly but this is what I am now aware happened 

I thought you only get money once it’s authorised to pay it or this could happen. To anyone, years after receiving. 

Very upsetting as I’ve never had anything left in a will before so didn’t know I should be checking things. 

I just bought a house and have a mortgage 😔