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Splitting the Assets
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PrettyWoman
Posts: 51 Forumite
My father in law passed away in 2017 leaving some cash and a house. The house was rented out at the time to cover his care home fees.
My husband has a sister and between us there are five grandsons. Each grandson received a cash sum from the estate and the will stated that the remaining estate was to be split equally between my husband and his sister.
When the house was put on the market my husband stated he was going to pay our mortgage off with the proceeds. I suspected that there would not be enough cash to do that and my husband said he was going to ask his sister for a bigger share. I said under no circumstances was he to contest the will as that isn’t what his parents would have wanted and eventually he agreed and said he would just take his 50% as per the will.
Subsequently the house sold and my husband asked me to sign a document to release the deeds for our house from the bank. He said that we were now mortgage free.
Still being convinced that the house would not have raised enough capital I logged onto Zoopla to find out how much it had sold for. The final estate would have been in the region of £300,000 and our mortgage was £198,000. I now know that my husband has received two thirds of the estate and his sister has one third. She was the executor of the will.
This is a situation I am completely uncomfortable with as I now feel we are in debt to his sister for £50,000. Our house is in joint names and we have both always contributed exactly 50/50 to all household expenses up to this inheritance.
Although I believe his sister willingly gave up part of her inheritance can she ever ask for it back? I haven’t spoken to my sister in law for 5 years and I am worried that if something happened to my husband she could demand her £50,000 potentially leaving me and my children homeless as I wouldn’t be able to raise that amount of money by myself.
I do not want to sound ungrateful that I am mortgage free but in all honestly I would rather have a smaller mortgage and security than feeling that I am living in a home that is no longer mine, I hope that makes sense 😕
My husband has a sister and between us there are five grandsons. Each grandson received a cash sum from the estate and the will stated that the remaining estate was to be split equally between my husband and his sister.
When the house was put on the market my husband stated he was going to pay our mortgage off with the proceeds. I suspected that there would not be enough cash to do that and my husband said he was going to ask his sister for a bigger share. I said under no circumstances was he to contest the will as that isn’t what his parents would have wanted and eventually he agreed and said he would just take his 50% as per the will.
Subsequently the house sold and my husband asked me to sign a document to release the deeds for our house from the bank. He said that we were now mortgage free.
Still being convinced that the house would not have raised enough capital I logged onto Zoopla to find out how much it had sold for. The final estate would have been in the region of £300,000 and our mortgage was £198,000. I now know that my husband has received two thirds of the estate and his sister has one third. She was the executor of the will.
This is a situation I am completely uncomfortable with as I now feel we are in debt to his sister for £50,000. Our house is in joint names and we have both always contributed exactly 50/50 to all household expenses up to this inheritance.
Although I believe his sister willingly gave up part of her inheritance can she ever ask for it back? I haven’t spoken to my sister in law for 5 years and I am worried that if something happened to my husband she could demand her £50,000 potentially leaving me and my children homeless as I wouldn’t be able to raise that amount of money by myself.
I do not want to sound ungrateful that I am mortgage free but in all honestly I would rather have a smaller mortgage and security than feeling that I am living in a home that is no longer mine, I hope that makes sense 😕
CC’s - £40,252/£39,684
EF - £2285/£1600
Planned DFD - July 2028 🤞
EF - £2285/£1600
Planned DFD - July 2028 🤞
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Comments
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Assuming it was a gift then she cannot seek to reclaim it. You need to talk to your husband to get the facts.PrettyWoman wrote: »My father in law passed away in 2017 leaving some cash and a house. The house was rented out at the time to cover his care home fees.
My husband has a sister and between us there are five grandsons. Each grandson received a cash sum from the estate and the will stated that the remaining estate was to be split equally between my husband and his sister.
When the house was put on the market my husband stated he was going to pay our mortgage off with the proceeds. I suspected that there would not be enough cash to do that and my husband said he was going to ask his sister for a bigger share. I said under no circumstances was he to contest the will as that isn’t what his parents would have wanted and eventually he agreed and said he would just take his 50% as per the will.
Subsequently the house sold and my husband asked me to sign a document to release the deeds for our house from the bank. He said that we were now mortgage free.
Still being convinced that the house would not have raised enough capital I logged onto Zoopla to find out how much it had sold for. The final estate would have been in the region of £300,000 and our mortgage was £198,000. I now know that my husband has received two thirds of the estate and his sister has one third. She was the executor of the will.
This is a situation I am completely uncomfortable with as I now feel we are in debt to his sister for £50,000. Our house is in joint names and we have both always contributed exactly 50/50 to all household expenses up to this inheritance.
Although I believe his sister willingly gave up part of her inheritance can she ever ask for it back? I haven’t spoken to my sister in law for 5 years and I am worried that if something happened to my husband she could demand her £50,000 potentially leaving me and my children homeless as I wouldn’t be able to raise that amount of money by myself.
I do not want to sound ungrateful that I am mortgage free but in all honestly I would rather have a smaller mortgage and security than feeling that I am living in a home that is no longer mine, I hope that makes sense 😕0 -
If this was done by a deed of variation or his sister simply gifted the money then that is final. If she loaned him the money then it would become a debt against his estate.
Did you not ask him exactly what this arrangement was before signing? If not ask him now. Might also be wise to check the land registry to how the ownership is recorded and whether any restrictions have been added.
https://www.land-search-online.co.uk/land-registry/?i=land-registry-search&gclid=Cj0KCQiAvqDiBRDAARIsADWh5Te9gEQZ9vxq_zbINNQoS0TcqUZPvUd_fmaDQThyCcM1SNuH1LvOVA0aAu9hEALw_wcB
Whether you still had a mortgage or a loan from your SIL then any sensible person would cover that with life insurance so it is important to know where you stand.0 -
brewthebear wrote: »One word for a man like that SCUMBAG robbing his own sister how greedy can you get !!
If I was you I would speak to the sister and put her name on the deeds as a charge for the money your husband robbed her of.
If his sister freely gifted the money then no robbery took place. I got my mother to take me out of her will entirely so my brother could benefit more from her small estate. We are in a much better possession financially than he is and I was happy to do that, it certainly does not make him a scumbag.
If SIL offered this freely then the OP should accept her generosity with good grace.0 -
brewthebear wrote: »One word for a man like that SCUMBAG robbing his own sister how greedy can you get !!
If I was you I would speak to the sister and put her name on the deeds as a charge for the money your husband robbed her of.
I don't understand where you are getting the information he robed her? She was the executor?Forty and fabulous, well that's what my cards say....0 -
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I can confirm that no robbery took place as his sister was executor of the will and our mortgage was redeemed via the solicitor who was dealing with the estate.
The deeds to the house are in my and my husbands names only as we have now received these from the bank.
My husband said he didn’t tell me me he was doing this as he knew I wouldn’t agree, he’s completely right, and consequently our relationship in now suffering as morally we are on different pages.
His sister is under the impression he is suffering from depression, he’s never been to the doctor and he has no symptoms so it is very well hidden.CC’s - £40,252/£39,684
EF - £2285/£1600
Planned DFD - July 2028 🤞0 -
PrettyWoman wrote: »I can confirm that no robbery took place as his sister was executor of the will and our mortgage was redeemed via the solicitor who was dealing with the estate.
The deeds to the house are in my and my husbands names only as we have now received these from the bank.
My husband said he didn’t tell me me he was doing this as he knew I wouldn’t agree, he’s completely right, and consequently our relationship in now suffering as morally we are on different pages.
His sister is under the impression he is suffering from depression, he’s never been to the doctor and he has no symptoms so it is very well hidden.
Thanks for the clarification. Your fears about her changing her mind and you having to pay her back if your husband dies are unfounded so please don’t worry about that.
Not so easy to suggest how to handle the underhanded way he did this. I would not contact your SIL about this, she seems to have been happy enough to do this and it would only upset her if she knew your feelings on this. Maybe time for some marriage counselling.0 -
There is no need for offensive language particularly as we don’t know the full facts. If you can’t say anything helpful please keep quiet.brewthebear wrote: »One word for a man like that SCUMBAG robbing his own sister how greedy can you get !!
If I was you I would speak to the sister and put her name on the deeds as a charge for the money your husband robbed her of.0 -
In your shoes, my only worry would be to ask myself if my husband would treat me in the same underhanded way in years to come if a divorce or separation was looming on the horizon.
You might want to quietly consider changing the joint ownership of your home (if that is how it is held) into Tenants in Common. You do not need your husband's permission to do this but its main effect is to render your half of the house immune to any little deal he may decide to cook up.
Good luck.0 -
I may be quite wrong but are we absolutely sure that the arrangement was not done freely between the two siblings? As executor the sister had no obligation to distribute the estate that way and if the other party was agreeable then nothing wrong has been done. Only if the brother applied undue pressure in some way could there be any complaint. In view of the rift between the OP and the executor I am suspicious.paddy's_mum wrote: »In your shoes, my only worry would be to ask myself if my husband would treat me in the same underhanded way in years to come if a divorce or separation was looming on the horizon.
You might want to quietly consider changing the joint ownership of your home (if that is how it is held) into Tenants in Common. You do not need your husband's permission to do this but its main effect is to render your half of the house immune to any little deal he may decide to cook up.
Good luck.0
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