Family member took all Mother inheritance

Johns288

Hi 

I am writing this on behalf of my Wife. Her mother unfortunately passed away on Christmas Eve in Scotland. She didnt make a will however it appears she had approx £20k in her bank account.  As my Wife now lives in England, She went to see her prior to her passing away however had to come back for work committments and missed her death.

She has two siblings both younger with the youngest having special needs (hes 30) who lived with her Mum. Due to her being out of the country, her other brother sorted out the death certificate so she could have a funeral even though he hadnt been on speaking terms with his mum for years. . The said brother also gained entry to her mother house after the passing(in which her special needs brother resides) stating he wanted to see how he was however took some of the paperwork needed for their mums bank account.

Come the funeral day this brother failed to turn up for the passing and when my Wife went to Santander to speak about her mothers account, she was informed this had been frozen. Although she wasnt entitled to know who had done this, she was told it was her brother as she was so upset.  

My wife has tried asking her brother to give both her and her other brother the money they are entitled to however he will not answer his phone. 

She has asked for legal advice however due to the amount being so small the solicitor deems the amount involved too small to take this further. 

Is there anything my Wife can do as although we dont need the money our daughters were always promised the money as their Nanna absolutely loved them. 

DE_612183

Is there a will?

flaneurs_lobster

DE_612183 said:

Is there a will?

Second sentence

She didnt make a will

Alfrescodave

No, see second sentance

Linton

One would expect a bank account to be frozen on death.   That is what should happen immediately the bank sees the death certificate.  It doesnt mean that the money has been taken but rather that the bank wont release it until someone can show they are entitled to have it, possibly by probate.

Or was your wife told that the brother had taken the money?

If there is no will what mother would have wanted is irrelevent.  The law specifies the allocation that should be made.  I assume her husband is dead so all the money should be split equally amongst her children.

Did mother own her home?

Hoenir

As soon as the bank is inform of the deceased's passing. The bank account will be frozen. 

Without a will. The estate will be distributed in accordance with Scottish law. There's no mileage in what the deceased's wishes might have been. 

butterflymum

From Santander Bereavement Guide:

For Santander, probate or confirmation is 

required when the total value of all accounts held with us in the sole 

name of the deceased is more than £50,000.

¡ If there is a Will, you’ll need to apply for a ‘grant of probate’. 

¡ If there isn’t a Will, you’ll need to apply for a ‘grant of letters of 

administration’.

¡ In Scotland, both of the above are called a ‘certificate 

of confirmation’. 

¡ We use ‘grant of representation’ as a generic term to cover all of 

the above.

butterflymum

The form used: https://www.santander.co.uk/assets/s3fs-public/AD_documents/bereavement_instruction_form_postal_notifications_only_misc1168jun24ipgcd.pdf

msb1234

by the by the time her funeral was paid for and any final bills settled there wouldn’t be very much left from £20K. I’d be more concerned about how your disabled brother is going to manage.

madbadrob

Ok no will so the estate is intestate.  This means that any children of the deceased (assumning that no husband exists) share the estate.  Unless the monies are in a bank account then I would doubt that applying for probate would be necessary .  Under rules of intestacy the estate is divided equally between you and your siblings.  If he is not sharing this money out then he is breaking the rules of intestacy which the police will consider a civil matter.  

So if the bank is holding the money you need to find out if they will require probate  to release that money.  if they do then you need to put a caveat on the estate via the probate office.  This will stop the estate going through probate until both the admon claimant and the caveat placer agreeing on the outcome.  


My advice would therefore be contact a solicitor because this could well get messy.  With the value of the estate being in probate terms of low value and your share being circa 6.5k this could wipe out what you would receive but could well save your sibling with special needs going without.  

Good luck 

Rob

sheramber

Did mum own her house?

 If not, what is happening about providing for the special needs brother?