Have you ever unexpectedly inherited anything?

[lepe]

I haven't, minus a set of books from an old neighbour who I used to drop in for a cup of tea with.

A good friend of mine has just inherited a property portfolio from his grandfather. He had no idea he owned any other houses other than his own home. So it came as a big shock. The grandfather gave them to his first born grandson (son's son) rather than any other grandchildren. Friend knew his grandparents were comfortably off, but had no idea they owned £1mil+ in workers cottages.

I inherited anxiety.

But no portfolio for me!

When my step dad's dad died, I wasn't in the line of inheritance. We had an amazing time clearing the old boys house though, step dad told us we could have anything we fancied. Loads of fascinating old stuff, I took an illustrated dictionary complete with payment docket for the installments the dad paid for it, and an absolutely iconic sixties coffee pot.

I use that coffee pot all the time as a vase, it's one of my lifelong favourite possessions.

I inherited the ability to worry

That's awful only giving to one!

Yes, very recently inherited my dad's wife's jewellery and art. The art is her own work and I'm not sure what to do with it all, I've put up the ones I love and still have more.
Art supplies I've given to an artist friend and kept a small amount.
There's a decent amount of fine jewellery which I eventually would like to have remodelled.
She had no other family at all and my dad died a couple of months before she did so sorting through everything has been a journey!

For boring work reasons I had to view the will of the late Sir Nicholas Fairbairn. Amongst all the vast sums of money and a castle full of silver, antiques etc he said 'my own paintings to be left equally to my daughters, they may choose between them which ones they want'.

Must admit I imagined his daughters going 'oh no Margaret, YOU have the stag, my living room just isn't big enough!' tinkly laugh etc.

I unexpectedly inherited just over £100’000 6 months ago… I am in my late 50’s and parents had nothing to leave so it was incredibly unexpected and absolutely life changing… I paid off what was left mortgage, much needed new car and a sizeable chunk for retirement savings. I am forever grateful. I am making sure that I pass on what I have to people who really value and need financial resources.

Probably not so much as the shock that came to the other grandchildren as they realised they didn't get a share of them.

So other grandchildren got nothing? I guess they all inherited a poisoned relationship from the grandfather as well then. Nasty man!

Nothing for me.

DH has inherited a few small sums of money from relatives (not parents) nothing life changing, but very nice to get.

No. But if anyone wants to leave me anything I would happily accept.

No.
The saddest thing was that when we moved I promised our elderly neighbour I would keep in touch. I sent a postcard almost every month for 10 years and I know she kept them all in a scrapbook.
I would have loved to have got them as they meant nothing to anyone but us and would have been lovely to look back on.
I often wonder what happened to them.

No

but how sad for all the other grandchildren that their grandfather thought so,little of them

My friend inherited a tortoise from her godmother.

Not me but someone I worked with many years ago

She had an old aunt who lived a very simple life, never married, never went on holiday, never owned a car (didn’t want to do any of them). When she died she left £150k to each of her immediate relatives, a fortune now - a mint back then. They were all absolutely stunned

Nothing. And I'll probably get a few dents when my parents pass.

Debts. Doh

No. But I know of someone who knows a waitress who was unexpectedly left thousands upon thousands in a will by a customer who had grown fond of her.

How does this work, in practice?

Do you just put someone's name and address in your will and the lawyers track them down?

And in this instance, if they didn't have her address, could they just put her name and the name of the restaurant?

I'm unexpectedly inheriting a sixth of my aunt's estate. She was married to my Mum's brother, with no children. She must have had a will that shared the estate between her own brother and her late husband's 2 siblings. As my mum died a couple of years ago, her third will be split between me and my brother. It won't be much, as my aunt wasn't wealthy.

My husband unexpectedly received a bequest from someone he had helped out, doing odd jobs and bits of shopping. If I did some baking we would drop in some cakes or brownies for him as he had a very sweet tooth.

We were shocked that he named my husband as one of his beneficiaries (he was a widower with no children) and he received a fairly high five figure sum. It was a lovely surprise.

DM inherited the house next door.

My paternal Grandmother's sewing basket, complete with ancient old toffee tins full of buttons and toggles that had been cut off clothes, and a Guards cigarette packet containing a collection of withered elastic.

My father inherited £5,000 from a farming couple in Cheshire that he had been billeted with for a few months during the war.
This was in the 1950's when you could buy a decent house for £2,000. He was flabbergasted as he hadn't been in touch since he left them early in the war.

It wasn't unexpected as such, as we knew DH was named as the only benefactor (other than 1k to two others), but when his cousin passed away, we inherited much more than we ever thought we would. I was expecting that it would be at most a few hundred pounds, once the 2k plus funeral costs had been paid.