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 £300 several years ago. My DF worked with homeless people and this money came from someone who he had helped turn his life around. When he died 20 yrs later he left money to myself and my siblings to say thank you. I had never met him.

A set of lithographs.

they are very much not my taste so I don’t want to display them. They supposedly have a small value, so I should sell them, but I have no idea how to do that effectively. So they sit in my house taking up space.

Both my parents' parents were home owners but my parents inherited nothing once care home fees were paid so having parents as home owners doesn't equal getting an inheritance!

I inherited my grandparents estate as they didn't want anything to go to my mum. Was even worded in the will which is sad. This included a house,savings,shares and bonds. A sizeable sum,but don't have so much left as the main of it left is tied up in 2 houses,one of which my mum lives in. Currently living off savings after divorcing a few years ago. Consider myself very lucky to have been in that situation.

I have a friend who had a hair salon. A retired woman started going to her salon and revealed she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. She was single with no children to help her. My friend looked after her for the last few months of her life- she really did look after her, spent nights by her side, bathed and fed her, took her to the hospital, washed and dressed her, did her washing, was her companion in that awful time so she wasn't alone. When the woman died she left her everything- a large very dated house in a very 'in-demand' conservation area and her savings which I think were over £100,000. This is about 18 years ago now. It was life-changing.
It turned out the woman had sisters and nephews and nieces who had expected to be left everything. However, they didn't challenge the will. My friend is quite a bit older than me and has a husband who has never worked in his life, out of laziness. Anything they had was because of her hard work. The money transformed their lives. They sold their small flat and the house she inherited and bought a 1930s semi in a lovely area, with a large garden, mortgage free. She is retired now and says she will be ok financially because of the inheritance, when she had expected to have to exist on benefits in her old age. She's not rich but does not need to worry about money.
I am so pleased when I see her so happy- she always worried about the future. It was a completely unexpected inheritance.

@letsbepositive2024 yes you can refuse an inheritance (disclaim) or redirect it to someone of your choosing

Flat feet and bunions. Thanks mum!

Both my DS then 12 and myself inherited from my dad. It was unexpected because I had not had any contact with him for almost 20 years (through choice). I knew he would leave my DSis something but certainly did not expect anything myself.

Dh was left a very considerable sum of money from his father - they hadn't spoken for nearly 40 years, and had only rebuilt any kind of relationship when DH's stepmonster had passed away. It was a huge shock and unexpected. The bulk is still sat in DH's savings as it feels almost too bittersweet to enjoy. My own darling Dad died a year ago, and he had very little in comparison, just debt. But in amongst some boxes, I found some very beautiful china cup and saucers, antique ones. They sit in my kitchen window and give me a huge amount of pleasure to look at/remember Dad. I've got no idea how he came to have them as he had them in boxes inside a cupboard.... and we'd moved him!

I got my grandads 1st and 2nd WW medals which I had mounted with a picture of my grandad in his uniform, along with my granny on thier wedding day. He still had his discharge papers and this was framed with the medals and photo. My granny left me her engagement ring.
From and aunt I got 5k, an old 1920’s doll, and a cabinet full of China. Nearly all the China was broken so went in the bin. The cabinet was full of woodworm and was unusable.
I still have the ring, the doll, one bit of China that wasn’t broken. The medals I gave to my five year old grandson, they are on the wall in my daughters house. I wrote the story of what my grandad did when he joined the army (career soldier) all the postings he’d had, the battles he fought in and how he got wounded. So my grandson can pass the medals and the story down so they don’t get lost in time.

Name changed for this - I unexpectedly inherited £280,000.

I was estranged from my mother, for self preservation, and she’d sworn since I was a child that she was leaving everything to charity. She was vehement and vitriolic in this and continued to say this even when I stepped in when she developed dementia. No one else, not even my sibling, would help. There was zero expectation that she’d do anything other than this - I stepped in as I couldn’t live with myself otherwise.

We so firmly believed we’d get nothing that my brother refused to believe me when I told him that (a) she’d left it all to us and (b) quite how much it was.

There was no joy in the inheritance but it has been a life changing amount of money for both of us. I still need to work, obviously, but having been on my own financially since I was 18 it has given me security and options I’ve never had in my life.

Sadly not. In fact one relative went out of his way to ensure I wouldn’t inherit.

A slik bedspread from my great grandmother.

2 fur coats (from the 1930s), a stuffed fox and a set of rosary beads from one of my more bonkers great aunts. Still got the rosary beads. The fur coats kept us warm in a freezing cold student flat before being donated to the theatre club when I graduated and the fox met with a second unfortunate accident at the hands of one of my unsuitable boyfriends.

My maternal grandfather's books in his mother tongue (left to me by my gran as he died very young). I didn't even know they existed until she died.

£20 000 from a relative.

My mum inherited a huge amount from a distant relative she barely knew. She hadn’t even know that he had died, and was contacted out of the blue several years later. She was the only relative he had left.

Maybe this grandson made an effort? Maybe he checked in and genuinely showed an interest in his grandfather.

Yes!

I got a letter from a solicitor telling me I was the beneficiary of a "pecuniary" amount of money from the estate of a man whose name I didn't recognise (and therefore who I didn't know had died). Turns out he was the cousin of a grandparent (I think) but hadn't had his own children so left his money between me and my cousins. This was before I had easy access to the internet so had to ask someone what pecuniary meant and they told me it meant that it was probably an insignificant amount of money - like pennies. So I was nicely surprised to find a cheque for £5000 sent to me!

Thanks, GM!

Silk!?? Bet that’s nice!??

I got the inheritance hunter phone call 3 years ago from one of these companies who trace families. I was very suspicious at first.

It was a cousin who had passed with no will and no immediate family as he lived in supported living due to health needs

There were 14 of us to split it with. It was an unexpected £2000 each I wasn't expecting.

It came on the same day I found out I would be inheriting from my brother, which I wasn't expecting either

My mother died just over a year ago. I knew she had a tiny pension and she lived very frugally. I’d pay for everything when we went out and would often fill her freezer for her. So it was a huge shock to find that she had left me £1 million. I’m still in shock.

It is. Highly impractical, with my dogs, so it never gets used.

A cat, which I didn’t want but had for many years in the end, and was devastated when he died. He was the sweetest boy.

Wow! How did she have so much money?

My dh inherited £15,000 from his estranged dad a few months ago he hadent seen his dad in 30 years and it never crossed is mind his dad had anything to leave not life changing but a huge amount to us .

Wow thatss extraordinary!