Another inheritance one

[Blacktoback]

My Late Father passed away last April following a year long illness of cancer with brain metastases.
There is my Sister (A) and my half brother (B) and sister (C)
My Father really struggled with his illness, enduring chemotherapy and immunotherapy as well as surgical intervention. For the last part of his life he was confined to his bed, drank Whiskey and suffered personality changing UTI’s. Understandably he would get frustrated and angry over the smallest of things. During the late stages he would fall out with the four walls without any effort.
One day my Sister (A) went to visit him. He asked ‘A’ to action a deed on one of his properties (A is a solicitor working in commercial litigation). ‘A’ explained that she wasn’t an executor of the will or a POA therefore she wasn’t able to action this for him. An argument ensued and my Father threatened to cut ‘A’ out of the will. ‘A’ was then cut out of the will. 10 days then went by of my Father crying saying ‘it’s too late now’ and ‘I’ve made the biggest mistake’. ‘A’ was never put back in to the will.
The residual of the estate is left to me, ‘B’ and ‘C’.
‘B’ has a clause in the will where he is not able to access the money until he’s 30 due to issues surrounding recreation drug abuse.
‘C’ has access when she turns 21 which is 2 years away.
I have always maintained that I would half my share with my full sister ‘A’. However, as time goes by I am starting to feel slightly resentful. I know mortally it’s 100% the right decision to make, but I cannot ignore that she earns 3x my salary and a desirable property (which is mortgaged). I work in the NHS, I have a degree and I am advancing in my job field. There are no talks of spliting the residual 4 ways from my 2 other siblings.
Am I bitter in unreasonably thinking she would automatically earn the inheritance sum within 4 years due to the salary difference when it could be a really life changing sun to me?

Apologies if I didn’t make it clear, it would have been the most ideal scenario having it split 4 ways, unfortunately that wasn’t the case. There has been small talk of what my other two siblings plan on doing and it doesn’t include giving ‘A’ a share. My intention was to go 50% with ‘A’ on what I received.

How much we talking?

On the face of it I'd give half. Because I would feel in my heart it's the right thing to do and I would hate myself otherwise.

Final will was read following his funeral.
I’m not understanding you on the term of bidding?

I don't think you splitting your share 50 50 with your dsis is fair.
That is not what your Dad wanted or intended. Basically you both get less as a result.
So give her the portion from your share which is due to her and your half siblings can do the same so you each end up with 25pc. So that means if you got 33pc then you give her 8pc which brings you down to 25pc.
If they don't do that, then that's on them. But you shouldn't try to over compensate for them or for your father's mistake.

A should have challenged the will. As his daughter she’d have been within her right, and given the circumstances may well have succeeded.

If she happened to earn less than you, would you give her a larger portion?

@Blacktoback

Final will was read following his funeral.
I’m not understanding you on the term of bidding?

It's just an expression that means she couldn't do what he asked her to do.

Legally she was not able to make action on a property in his name as she was not an executor of the will, nor did she have POA. She was legally unable to act in my Dad’s name without being in either one of these positions.

This is really insightful

I tend to agree with Anameisthename and give your sister the difference between the original 25% and the new 33%.

Unless you had previously verbally agreed to split your portion in half with your sister; then I think you should stick to that arrangement.

Have you actually spoken to your half-siblings about this? They may need it spelled out to them that A ought to receive her quarter of the estate from the three of you.

Yes, this. OP I really think you need to explicitly talk to them about this. I think you're expecting a little bit too much of a 19 year old and (presumably) early 20 year old to (a) understand about the law around wills and the fact that even though the will says one thing, you can vary it if all parties agree and (b) to be thinking very fairly and reasonably about the feelings of and fairness towards a much older half sister who they don't have a particularly good relationship with. They've probably got £ signs in their eyes thinking about what to spend it on like you say, and as far as they're concerned she's 'rich' and sorted and doesn't even need the money (even you are having those thoughts and she's your full sister). Do they actually know how unreasonable your Dad was in cutting sister out of the will, and that he immediately regretted doing it and desperately wanted to take it back? I think they might need that gently but firmly spelling out to them. Honestly I think you owe it to your sister to try, she can't really do it herself, would just seem too grabby and awkward but if you are in touch with them all then you are better placed to do it...

Im sorry for your loss.

I think you're getting a hard time OP. I say this as someone who was left £0 from father and his stepson given everything. He changed his will when he met his third wife to exclude his two small children and add in his wife's child.

I never fought, I never argued, I never asked and I knew it would never be offered. My father was very abusive and despite spending his whole life telling everyone he treats all the child re the same, the fact the he chose to cut out a small child who he knew was already living in poverty in favour of his new wife's child is what hurts. It doesn't matter if it was 50p or 50k. It's the emotional hurt an action like that causes.

It's clear to me that you're upset your sister was excluded and it sounds like at a time you were grieving you wanted to make it better and offered half of your share. It sounds to me like you're hurt that your siblings aren't upset she was excluded and have not offered to make things fair by spilling everything four ways.

I agree that her income shouldn't be relevant but it's really hard not take it into account with the state if the economy and costs if everything at the moment. I don't think you deserve the hard time you're getting for having second thoughts about not giving her half and I also think you have every right to have hoped your siblings include her but now they aren't and it's clear you're going to be leaving yourself with less than you should have had to make up for your fathers decision.

You sister must be hurt, and I imagine like me, it's bjt the amount of money, it's seeing that at least two of her siblings l know full well she should have been given a quarter and they seem ok with her not getting that. I can see why you feel disgruntled with them too.

You can't fix or maintain her relationship with your other siblings. You can only focus on yours with her and yours with them but you could mention to them you're giving her a share and maybe they'll think again themselves. If you were my sister I'd be ok with you not giving me half because I'd know it's unfair and also not what your dad wanted.

Let's say it's £100, You could mention to them you will be giving her a £25 of yours and if they both did the same you'd all have what should have rightfully been done in the first place and end up with £75 each. Maybe they'll see how crap it first one person to have the guilt and lose out in order to make it a little bit fairer for the one who has been excluded totally.

Awful you are going through this OP.

Always write a will and update it because you never know how life will work out.

Exactly this. She’s worked bloody hard to be a solicitor! My sister earns 3 times what I do and lives in a house. I don’t think she deserves less inheritance because of it. I honestly think you’re awful for even thinking this way.

I would explain to your brothers that your Dad regretted his decision and wanted A to have her share. Then ask them to split it 4 ways.

You should not split your share, it should be put to the beneficiaries, if you all decide to revert to the previous will then a deed of variation can be written altering the content of the final will to reflect the previous arrangement.

You have 2 years to do this, and it can only be done with the agreement of all beneficiaries. It also removes any tax implication if you split your share post will (if you give half of your inherited share to A it will count as part of your estate for IHT purposes for 7 years, meaning, should you die it will be clipped off your NRB first. via a deed of variation, it is included in DFs estate for IHT purposes.

But if he was that desperate to take it back he could of, OP says he went on about taking it back, but he didn't - drafting a will can be done at home, or in hospital, solicitors are used to rushing off to do deathbed wills.

It's good that you want to try and reverse your father's action to cut your ds out of the will, but honestly I think you should consider giving her the money you received that would originally have gone to her, not 50%. If your father left £120,000 the each of you would have got £30,000. By cutting her out you would each end up with £40,000, an extra £10,000 ). So if you give her 1/4 of you inheritance you are returning what was diverted from her to you. This way you are doing your part and sharing the inheritance without unduly disadvantaging yourself. It's then up to your other siblings to consider their consciences. You are not responsible for decisions made by your Dad's or your siblings, and you absolutely shouldn't be the one to compensation your sister for money given to your other siblings.

I love my sister's so I'd share with any of them. I certainly wouldn't want to have bad feelings with any of them. It's not worth it. I would mention to other siblings what had happened and ask them if they like to share between all 4 equally though. See what they say.

OP can spell it out to them but they have no legal obligation to agree to the arrangement.

I would email all siblings (cc them so everyone is on the same page) and spell out what happened as you did here - that your father in a confused/angry state altered the will and cut out your sibling which has meant an increase to the remaining siblings inheritance. Your father expressed regret repeatedly but never got around to changing it back before he passed. That you intend to give 25% (ie the proportion that your inheritance increased by) back to your sister as your father would have wished and you encourage everyone to consider giving her back her share! I would also point out that you would do it for any of your siblings and it is the fairest thing to do! I personally would not give her half my share - I would give back what I gained from her being cut and then pass it into my siblings to do the same!

How much difference between 25% and half? Money wise I mean.

I feel really bad for your sister in this case. Her father passed away being upset with her and cut her out of his will and her sister is bitter about her earnings. I can only imagine how she is feeling in all this. For me this is not necessarily about money but about the fact her family doesn’t seem to care about her or at least this is how it might appear to her. If I were you, I’d consider whether your sister was more important to you than the money. Your life choices and earnings are not her fault. Also consider if giving her 50% of your share will make you bitter afterwards. Only you can decide what the right thing to do is, but if you value your sister I’d make sure she knows it, whether you give her the money or not.