to want to see the will?

[tremble]

NC for this, just in case. We've just found out a distant relative has died, and the funeral was yesterday. My DS and I are pretty angry that we weren't told, as we knew the relative when we were children and would like to have paid our respects.

We found this out today when we got a letter from relative's sister saying that the relative hadn't signed their will, so we and a few cousins and aunts etc will inherit a share of their estate. But the sister says she wants to honour the unsigned will and has asked us to revoke our shares so she can do this. We hadn't expected to inherit anything so we're not fussed about the money which probably won't be much, but we thought we'd ask to see the unsigned will so we can be sure that if we give up our shares then it goes to the right people.

But the sister says we're not allowed see it. She won't even tell us which solicitor is handling the estate and got pretty angry when we asked, saying we had no right. Her behaviour seems a little suspicious but we haven't really any experience with wills. Is it unreasonable to ask to see it? And what would you do?

Does she have form for being quite odd?

I would just say, what suzannecaravaggio suggests.

She's "very hurt" you're accusing her of cheating you when she initially asked you to sign your rights away but now she's posting a cheque to each of you?

Forgeettabbbbouuut it. You need to see all the underlying documentation. You need to know what's going on here.

At the end of the day - she's potentially riding roughshod over her sister's estate, apart from anything else. She could be pulling any sort of fast one and it needs to be made clear to her that having had power of attorney doesn't mean she gets to do whatever she likes now.

(overinvested in this thread!!!)

you could add that, out of respect for the deceased, her affairs ought to be dealt with in the proper manner...or words to that effect

if you wanted to try a bit of the old guilt tripping tactic right back at her

OP, you really need to emphasise the difficulties she will get into - she simply cannot dispose of the estate without being an executor.

To those who have said that POA ends when the person dies, that is technically correct, but the person with the POA needs to inform banks etc that the person has died, until they have done that they effectively have free reign.

Keep in mind if it is just money from bank, building society etc there may not be a solicitor involved, the institutions may pay out to her if she has said she is executor if its classed as small estate.

This implies that if she lives in a different area from the deceased she could apply to her local Sheriff
www.scotcourts.gov.uk/taking-action/dealing-with-a-deceased's-estate-in-scotland/small-estates

Ahhh nothing like a death in the family to bring out the rows about money. Nothings ever easy is it?

Out of curiosity who paid for the funeral? (Assume it is paid for seems as you said you never got an invite?)

Also is this relative elderly. Sometimes older people have a hard time talking about money as it is seem all a bit vulgar (not a bad thing, I am the same) perhaps that is why she is acting a little coy?

Also if she's got PA she may not have told the bank thag he's died and just have emptied the account. How can you know if any cheque she sends you is your correct share? What would stop her hiding 20k in her bank account?

ratspeaker the sister lives in England so I don't think she couldn't apply to her local court. I think it will just be money from the bank, at the most. She did say the unsigned will was drawn up by a solicitor so if this is true they ought to have copy, but we don't know who they are.

GoingToBeFine I was thinking about the PoA business and I wondered if she had told the banks etc. yet. I think she probably would have done, confident that the will would be executed correctly by the solicitor. I suspect the anger came from the shock of finding out it wasn't signed and the money wouldn't go in her pocket to the people in the will after all.

Not terribly old Littlelondoner, a former businesswoman and still razor sharp.

still razor sharp
from your description she's behaving very suspiciously so surely not that sharp or she'd have come up with a better game plan?
Perhaps arrogant...she thought everyone would just accept her word and do as they were told

Maryz I suppose I meant more in an administrative way - she didn't physically look after them. Don't want to say anything too identifying but the relative needed a lot of support and care, and the sister organised, liaised, planned etc, and visited when possible. She chose not to engage the assistance of anyone who lived closer.

Do invoice me when all this is over!

suzanne Yes, arrogant is definitely the right word! She is generally sharp, though and obviously believes we're all a bit dim if she though we'd fall for this.

See people like this can be quibbling over £500. Or this could be thread of the decade and OP gets millions. Hope it's the latter!

I'd still want to see the total to know that the amounts she has shared out were accurate, though. My DH has been an executor a few times and it's quite a job. Also, it usually takes some time to gather all the funds together (unless they have a single bank account) so I would be especially surprised if an executor was able to provide a payout so quickly .

God, please keep us all posted. Everything you have posted indicates she is trying to pull a fast one.

I wonder if, when the cheque comes, especially if from an account in the deceased's name, you should contact the bank named on it and say the POA is no longer valid due to death?

any news?

This sounds dodgy as hell!!

This might help, Letters of Administration have to be obtained before an estate can be distributed. I'm sure you will be able to check with the relevant office whether this has been done and who they have been issued to.

sorry, pressed post too fast: www.iwc-ltd.co.uk/blog/letters-of-administration-in-scotland/

How can she access bank accounts at all if she can't be the executor?
If the solicitor is the same one as set up the PoA, can you find out who it is via that route? Long shot, but does any of the other family involved have a copy of the PoA?

ithought the letters of administration is the non Scottish equivalent of what you get if you apply to Sheriff court to be named as Executor as was mentioned up thread.
The OP has checked with the local Sheriff court and nothing has been filed as yet.

Its possible the aunt(?) has not told the bank that the relative has died and is still using PA. She could get into bother for that

Its also possible that if she is in England she may not know how the system works in Scotland.
Its also possible that if its a small estate the banks may hand over the money without Sheriff court letter.
Certainly when my dad died the bank closed his account and arranged for the small amount to be paid to me, think I had to sign saying I was next of kin and entitled to claim the cash
( my parents had been long divorced, my mums estate was much different as she had cash in the bank, also a static caravan and other assets so it was classed as a large estate)

Either way being executor carries legal obligations, this includes disributing the estate as set down in law, not what " you think" the deceased may have wanted.

Ok, to give an example, my mum had left a letter, not signed dated or witnessed. So had not legal standing
So I did everything according to the law, luckily my siblings and I get along and agreed. ( much love and hugs if you reading )
So mums estate was divided amongst us. As laid down by intestacy law.

Then we got together and "spontaneously decided " we'd each put something into what mum wished from our inheritance. So someone got the caravan, the grandchildren got a share and we were happy.
But we all got along, no one decided this was the " wishes" and acted on it unlawfully.

OP
There is a legal board on MN it might be worth posting on there.
Its slow and quiet but you may get very good advice

UPDATE:

Ha! There isn't any will! By a process of elimination we were able to work out the likely solicitors, and have it confirmed that a will was never drawn up.

And the sister appears to already be in possession of the contents of the deceased's bank accounts. Might be a similar situation to your dad, ratspeaker if the amount was small. We still don't know amounts yet as she didn't answer any of our questions.

I don't believe she had any intention of following the law. I think she was going to keep the lot but someone has possibly suggested to her that she could be prosecuted if found out. So she has dreamed up this scheme of a will with the money to go elsewhere, so she can claim she has advised us but if we fall for the story and don't claim our shares then she gets to keep it all anyway.

Most of the family just want to take her money now. Such a pity she tried to do it in such an underhand way.

So she was lying outright from the start? Even though it sounded dodgy it's always a shock to find that someone can be so selfish. What are you going to do next? Do the family want her to have the money (because she should share it out really).

I'm not sure what you can do about her already having the money, if you know which bank your relative was with you could contact their fraud bereavement department to check on the correct procedure!

Sorry that your relative has put you through this at such a difficult time.

Are you going to involve the police?

Don't see how otherwise you would know the correct amount involved? You can't trust her.