Inheritance - AIBU to have everything crossed for a windfall?

[UnravelMyMind]

I have a namechanged for this because it may get very identifying...

Early last year my parental grandmother died. She left a small amount of money to me, and the rest of her estate to her two sons, one of whom is my dad . My dad hurriedly left the country 12 years ago to escape from HMRC so his share of the money was to be kept by his brother, who was going to send him an allowance every year.

In October my dad died of cancer, very suddenly. Neither me or his brother had had a lot to do with him for the previous 10 years, very long story but basically he's a compulsive liar) although we did go out and see him in the country he was living a few weeks before he died.

His brother has now sold his mothers house and so has doubled the amount of money he was due to inherit because he will no longer have to share it with his brother.

I do not feel comfortable asking his brother about this, hence I am driving myself mad thinking about it and hoping that it will occur to him to share some with myself as it's money he would not have had if it was not for the death of my father / his brother. Not all of it, it's an extra £150,000, but at least something...? £30k for example ?

[UnravelMyMind]

Thanks Nauticant! I think the thread has got too long now for people to bother reading it all, and you're spot on with what you said

[UnravelMyMind]

@wishIknewthen I have pm'd you back

[NeversayNever2]

Hoping it occurs to someone is a big ask. Let hope... It does. I have seen too many times when this sort of thing corrupts the nicest of people, also her uncle is married with step dc.

We have no idea what his wife is like or what pressure she will bring to bear on him.


What's the worst case scenario here.

I would say that uncle from all ops description of him.. Gives her nothing or a small amount.
Op feels grateful for her tiny windfall. Years later when perhaps uncle is long dead and money spent or with his wife and her dc... Op is hard up.

She thinks about that will, the circumstances.. And talks about it and someone says... Yes but x comes into play, that particular wording meant... You were entitled to more.

By then it will be far too late.
Sometimes we have a legal right, sometimes we don't. But it's not shame if uncle let's her down when actually there would be legal claim...

[FlippingFoal]

So OP your father had named you next of kin, despite you being adopted? Does anyone know if this holds any legal bearing on inheritance?

[Gingernaut]

None at all.

NOK doesn't have to be 'kin' at all.

For some vulnerable adults, NOK can be carer or social worker.

[SheilaFentiman]

FF I would doubt it, as that would be for an (overseas) hospital form to authorise OP to take certain actions.

[walkingdowntheboulevard]

OP was the meeting today, any news?

[HJ40]

Are no other decent law abiding tax payers on here bothered about the amount of fraud going on?

-Father skips the country to avoid HMRC
-GM's will isn't distributed 50/50 as stated but uncle retains DF portion
-Uncles shares allowance with DF to continue avoidance of HMRC

• Upon death of DF when debts should be settled the objective is to avoid this by not declaring it as

Uncle already has the proceeds
-OP is complicit in the whole thing

I'm not surprised OP keeps stating she doesn't want legal advice or to go down the official route! What's the penalty for fraud?

Do the right thing OP and do it properly. The rest of us are mugs if we think there's nothing wrong with this.

[OutToGetYou]

*-Father skips the country to avoid HMRC
-GM's will isn't distributed 50/50 as stated but uncle retains DF portion
-Uncles shares allowance with DF to continue avoidance of HMRC

• Upon death of DF when debts should be settled the objective is to avoid this by not declaring it as
  

Uncle already has the proceeds*

That's not what has happened. The first seems to be correct but from then you are barking up the wrong tree.
GM will was written that Uncle got everything to assist DF continuing to avoid the tax due. So, the will was followed.

As a result of that, the rest doesn't make sense. Uncle owns the inheritance in total. OK, he has benefited from his brother's tax avoidance and GM writing of the will, but the tax is not his responsibility.
The uncle does not have to use his own inheritance to settle anyone else's debts and there has been no 'not declaring' that we are aware of.
The OP is not complicit - it's actually nothing to do with her, he's not even her legal father!

However, of course there is/was something wrong and it was the D'F' who behaved badly, all those years ago. But what happened subsequently is a separate matter. If the GM didn't want her money to go to the DF to pay his tax bill that's her business, it was her money, she left it to her other son, the uncle didn't have to pay money to the DF is he didn't want to (unless the DF was left some kind of lifetime interest in an investment, which HMRC could have sequestered anyway), he chose to. He could now choose to give some of his own money to the OP. Her late DF's tax avoidance is not her problem.

[EachandEveryone]

How did it go? Very similar thing happened with my dad and he died in November. There was nothing in the UK so we aren’t bothering to chase it abroad. He had no will that we know of and we only really got to know him again when he was dying.

I hope you had a positive meeting.

[Inertia]

The only way you can clear this up is to go through it all with a solicitor. As others have said, it doesn't said as though you have any automatic right to inherit anything, but you need proper legal advice. In your shoes, I'd be worried about HMRC contacting you about your dad's estate if he's named you as next of kin, even if it turns out there's nothing for you to inherit.

[OutToGetYou]

In your shoes, I'd be worried about HMRC contacting you about your dad's estate if he's named you as next of kin, even if it turns out there's nothing for you to inherit.

Why?
No-one is responsible for anyone else's debts. The estate is, but individuals are not. And it sounds as if the DF left no estate, only a motorbike which was sold to pay for his funeral.
Plus 'next of kin' has no legal meaning in this context anyway. It has a legal meaning under the Mental Health Act, but other than that you could name the Queen as you NOK if you wanted to, it wouldn't mean HMRC could chase her for your debts (be nice if it did though....).

So, yes, I suppose HMRC may contact the OP IF they somehow find out that she was named as NOK in some far away country (pretty unlikely, no?) but all she has to say is "I wasn't the executor and I gather there was no estate to distribute" and the brother who was presumably the executor (though if there was no will this is actually 'administrator' appointed by the court*) would then just have to show his brother's estate accounts. I don't know if there would be any probate/equivalent in this country he died in, but whatever that country had required.

*that is what would happen in the UK but what happens in the country he died in could be very different.

[MiniCooperLover]

How did drinks work the uncle go OP?

[Inertia]

Not so much the worry that HMRC would have any grounds to chase the OP for money, more the potential hassle of fielding questions when she doesn't actually know what was going on. You're right though, I guess they are unlikely to look into it- presumably the uncle's financial affairs would be unaffected anyway.

[HJ40]

OutToGetYou I'd missed the clarification which stated the will left everything to uncle, with the provision for DF being a subsequent letter as earlier OP had said the will left everything 50/50. So you're right the proceeds from the house are the uncle's.

However I still find it incredibly distasteful that statement such as this are seen as acceptable

"HMRC are unlikely to get wind of the money, the reason my grandmother's will was worded in the way it was was to ensure that the money went to my dad rather than the taxman! She knew what she was doing!"

How does this not make the whole family complicit in a tax dodge?

[OutToGetYou]

Well, millions of people write their wills and arrange their finances to avoid tax, so it's nothing new.

[HJ40]

There's a big difference between doing things in the most tax efficient, legal way and skipping the country for tax avoidance.

[Babyroobs]

Maybe HMRC will be looking for what they are owed too ?

[FuckCalmRhageOn]

Any updates op?