Any advice please on how to tackle the council from taking most of my inheritance.

Daisydimples

A year ago a genealogy company contacted me.  My father had died  3 years earlier and his council had been dealing with his finances whilst he was in a care home.( My father walked out on Mum and me many years ago and there was no contact) When I contacted them they offered me no information or help.  I managed to get them  to put the figures in writing of how much money he had left and how much the outstanding care home bill was.  So I knew how much the net figure was.  They insisted on an indemnity form being signed and probate obtained. I am on a low income so I started saving for the fee I had to pay to start probate.  On Christmas Eve I received a letter from the council demanding payment of the care home bill and threatening legal action. I phoned up but no one there to speak to.  It spoilt Christmas for me and my family.  In January I made a complaint and I jus go a sorry human error letter which I felt was not good enough.  Fast forward to June.  I wanted to escalate my complaint re the Client Finance and debt collectors depts who gave very poor service.  My complaint went in before their deadline.  A week later I was contacted and given 3 days over the weekend to read "their" written version of my complaint which I refused to do.  The result of my escalated complaint is that they have now found another outstanding care home bill and when added to the only one they had told me about uses up most of the money and I would only be left with £432 after paying probate.  I feel they are punishing me for escalating my complaint.  I feel it is unfair, unreasonable and morally wrong that after a year they suddenly "find" another unpaid care home bill and deduct from what amounts to my inheritance. I have no proof of any bills or that he was in the care home.  I find now they were appointees and in charge of his finances.  I can't find out what happened to his belongings when they took their council flat back, what happened to his belongings from the care home or where he was laid to rest.  They have washed their hands of all of this.  Is there any organisation who can help me with any of this.  I need to fight the council to get the small amount of inheritance back and have the care home bill that has suddenly appeared after a year gone.  Any help or advice appreciated please.

Brie

Sorry for your loss.  And it never helps when you then have to deal with bureaucracy.

I'd suggest contacting Citizen's Advice or maybe Age Concern.  

Presumably your father died without a will given the way contact was made.  Have you been told if there is any other family?  If your mom is still alive and they never divorced then I believe everything should go to her.  But if she has died then it should go to you and whatever other siblings there might be.  

As administrators of his estate I believe they should provide you (& any other heirs) with an account of the estate and what has been distributed and where.  Assuming he had little money and perhaps just state pension or similar then I can't see how he would have been responsible for paying for his care home fees.  But the council should be able to provide that information.  And given how cash strapped councils are these days I wouldn't be surprised if they added a charge for having to administer the estate.  

As for where he was laid to rest....unfortunately he likely had what is known as a pauper's funeral, a simple cremation local to where he had been living with no ceremony.  You might try contacting the local crematorium to see if they can provide you with anything about where and what actually took place. 

I hope you can find out what you need and resolve the situation satisfactorily.

lincroft1710

Your father died 4 years ago. At the time of death either the council or care home would have searched through his belongings to see if they could find any name or address of any surviving relatives, which clearly they did not. This sadly seems to indicate your father kept nothing to show you were his child.


If your father genuinely incurred care home fees, then there is nothing immoral or illegal in presenting a bill for these a year later after a bill from another care home.


You have no idea what were his actual belongings. Council found no trace of a relative, so probably would have kept them for a year "in case a relative turned up" then disposed of them.


What you have to bear in mind is how this looks from the council's point of view. An elderly tenant is transferred to a care home and subsequently dies. The tenant appears to have no known relatives, so the council have to deal with everything. 3 years later, out of the blue, an unknown person appears, who it transpires is the deceased's child and is wanting their inheritance.


A solicitor could help but an hour of their time and that is your £432 gone,

 

Section62

Daisydimples said:

A year ago a genealogy company contacted me.  My father had died  3 years earlier and his council had been dealing with his finances whilst he was in a care home....

Did the company say why they were contacting you?  Had the council asked them to trace any relatives, or was the company researching from the unclaimed estates list (Bona Vacantia)?  The latter doesn't seem very likely if his estate was only small.  Unfortunately the list has been taken offline currently (due to some alleged fraud cases) so you wouldn't be able to check it yourself if you don't already know.

It is unlikely the council are finding another bill just to punish you for complaining.  They work to strict rules and processes.

badmemory

The outcome of your unfortunate circumstances is to show just how important it is to have not only a will but a POA which can be even more important.  Obviously no help to you now but hopefully could be to someone reading.

Leaving it to the LA does normally lead to fees being charged naturally, as they have to employ people to do that.

PennysIntoPounds

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/make-a-claim-to-a-deceased-persons-estate

marcia_

If your father died owing money it is right that debts are taken from his estate. 

HampshireH

For £400 I'd walk away and wash my hands of it. You weren't involved, didn't know he had died or was in a care home and now chasing £400 inheritance.

Is it really worth it?

Emmia

Daisydimples said:

A year ago a genealogy company contacted me.  My father had died  3 years earlier and his council had been dealing with his finances whilst he was in a care home.( My father walked out on Mum and me many years ago and there was no contact) When I contacted them they offered me no information or help.  I managed to get them  to put the figures in writing of how much money he had left and how much the outstanding care home bill was.  So I knew how much the net figure was.  They insisted on an indemnity form being signed and probate obtained. I am on a low income so I started saving for the fee I had to pay to start probate.  On Christmas Eve I received a letter from the council demanding payment of the care home bill and threatening legal action. I phoned up but no one there to speak to.  It spoilt Christmas for me and my family.  In January I made a complaint and I jus go a sorry human error letter which I felt was not good enough.  Fast forward to June.  I wanted to escalate my complaint re the Client Finance and debt collectors depts who gave very poor service.  My complaint went in before their deadline.  A week later I was contacted and given 3 days over the weekend to read "their" written version of my complaint which I refused to do.  The result of my escalated complaint is that they have now found another outstanding care home bill and when added to the only one they had told me about uses up most of the money and I would only be left with £432 after paying probate.  I feel they are punishing me for escalating my complaint.  I feel it is unfair, unreasonable and morally wrong that after a year they suddenly "find" another unpaid care home bill and deduct from what amounts to my inheritance. I have no proof of any bills or that he was in the care home.  I find now they were appointees and in charge of his finances.  I can't find out what happened to his belongings when they took their council flat back, what happened to his belongings from the care home or where he was laid to rest.  They have washed their hands of all of this.  Is there any organisation who can help me with any of this.  I need to fight the council to get the small amount of inheritance back and have the care home bill that has suddenly appeared after a year gone.  Any help or advice appreciated please.

There's an argument that as you had clearly not seen him for many, many years, and weren't in contact with him or anyone he knew in a way that you'd have either been aware he'd gone into nursing care and subsequently died,  that you shouldn't have any claim on his estate. That's not how inheritance laws work though, so you have a claim.

The first you knew was when this heir hunting firm. (Not the council) contacted you.

I appreciate you'd like more than £452, but the council have dealt with moving him to care, clearing his flat, dealing with his death and funeral etc, and the first call on someone's estate are debts like funerals, care fees etc. For £452 I'd walk away from this source of stress.

bobster2

Emmia said:

There's an argument that as you had clearly not seen him for many, many years, and weren't in contact with him or anyone he knew in a way that you'd have either been aware he'd gone into nursing care and subsequently died,  that you shouldn't have any claim on his estate. That's not how inheritance laws work though, so you have a claim.

What is the point of presenting that "argument" when it's completely irrelevant? The executors / administrators just need to follow the rules of intestacy.

If you were trying to have a dig at the OP - note the part where they say their father walked out on the family - hence the lack of contact.

Section62

bobster2 said:

Emmia said:

There's an argument that as you had clearly not seen him for many, many years, and weren't in contact with him or anyone he knew in a way that you'd have either been aware he'd gone into nursing care and subsequently died,  that you shouldn't have any claim on his estate. That's not how inheritance laws work though, so you have a claim.

What is the point of presenting that "argument" when it's completely irrelevant? The executors / administrators just need to follow the rules of intestacy.

If you were trying to have a dig at the OP - note the part where they say their father walked out on the family - hence the lack of contact.

Not entirely... it does demonstrate a clear lack of dependency, if that were to come into the equation.