My mum is withholding my inheritance from my grandfather because of ideological reasons

[Camde]

None of this is confirmed, but I have strong suspicions.

my grandfather sadly passed away last year. He owned a very successful business, and was very generous with all his grand kids.

since he died, I have heard my mother (his daughter) and uncle having conversations about dealing with the inheritance from him. For context, I know that my uncle received enough to pay off all the mortgage on his new £1.2m house, so I know my mum likely received a similar amount.

My grandfather also told me before he passed a few times that I’d be receiving a good inheritance and shouldn’t waste it.

the issue is, my mother is very ideologically opposed to the idea of she or her kids inheriting money. She is very left wing, and believes that it is immoral for some people to receive inheritances when others don’t receive anything. Therefore, she has refused her portion of the inheritance.

it also means that I have no idea how much I have inherited. She is the executor of the will, and I have not seen it. I only ask as I’m saving up to buy a house, and it would be great to know whether I’m likely to receive any money to help with a deposit.

Every time I’ve asked her about my inheritance, she gets very angry and accuses me of not loving my grandfather and only caring about his money, which isn’t true.

how do I deal with this? I don’t want to fall out with my mum over this, and she is still very much grieving.

Either way, if it's gone into trust then your mum, as executor, cannot redirect your share. Is your mum the only executor or is your uncle/someone else executor too? It will say on the grant of probate. As if there's a second executor, I'd be tempted to ask them!

I’ll be working on the basis of no inheritance then in this case

Agree.
Whats the point of leaving your loved ones something if you leave it to someone else to decide whether they will leave your loved ones something.

Did your mother OP have a say in the writing of this will ?

id assume so. I can see now that they had a solicitor present who signed it but I assume she would have been in the room with him

Discretionary trust doesn't mean the executor of the will has discretion about whether you get it or not - it's for the trustee to do so, and that may or may not be the same person.

The trustee has discretion about when and how to distribute funds, but can only use the fund to benefit the beneficiaries. They cannot decide to spend it themselves, give it away etc.

Time.to see a solicitor, I think.

And as @Ttcpph mentioned is there another Executor

My mother and uncle are listed as being both trustees and executors. Unfortunately the relationship with my uncle is very bad, and he will refuse to speak to me about it

We’re sort of assuming it’s OPs mum as she seems to be very evasive about it all
But yes it could be someone else

What about your cousins.
Have they inherited
Are they named in the will
Are you in a position to ask them

Again I’m not sure to be honest, I can’t see any obvious signs that theu have. The will refers to a separate trust which seems to be a lifetime trust from my googling. It just states in the will that the beneficiaries of that trust are all the grandkids

Well why don't you see if one of the other beneficiaries of the discretionary trust can approach your mum? Give them the copy of the Will, explain your mum is being evasive and uncle won't speak to you. If one of the other beneficiaries approaches your mum and makes it known they've seen a copy of the Will, it might hurry your mum along to make some decisions? She can't just withhold the money indefinitely. Similarly, just because your uncle doesn't speak to you it doesn't mean nothing should be actioned re the trust. Otherwise they are both potentially breaching their duties as trustees. They have to act in the best interest of the beneficiaries and in line with the trust deed. They cannot let their personal opinions (left wing, doesn't agree with inheritance) from swaying any decisions they make re who benefits from the trust and when. I think this fact needs making clear to both your mum and uncle. Otherwise you and other beneficiaries are within your rights to sue

A lifetime trust is basically an allowance each year. As it’s not a lump sum you probably wouldn’t notice if they’d suddenly come into loads of money.
Some lifetime trusts spread the yearly amount out each month.

( my uncle was given similar to this by his mum because he was crap with money )

I think OP I’d want to talk to the solicitor that signed the will. Just to see if there was any sign of coercion or at the very least to see if he has kept a record of why the descretionary trust was felt appropriate and by whom

It does sound odd. He was a very sharp and strong-willed man though with good business sense, so I’d be surprised if he allowed my mum to coerce him into something against his will. He was very big on fairness though and showing equal attention etc to all grandkids, so I think this may be his way of ensuring equality

How long ago was the Grant of Probate issued

Perhaps the financials are still being sorted. It took me over a year to do each of my parents, my MILs and another relative in Guernsey

It was summer 2023

So they’ve had probate for at least a year ?

Unless there are a lot of properties and business rights, stocks , shares, bonds etc etc to sell the assets should all now be sold.
Although property isn’t selling so well now but the executors have a duty not to lose money for the beneficiaries and not selling quickly means money is lost in bills etc.
So I’m guessing everything is sold

If that’s the case
I would show your mum you have a copy of the will and see what she says
You need to know. I would want to. Im sure everyone would. You are not being unreasonable

Thanks all. I need to tread carefully here because the last thing I want is to have a big falling out with my mum over this. And she will be very offended that I’ve looked at the will online

Who's the executor? If it's your DM or DU, and they have not informed you of your inheritance, and/or disposed of it to the cats' home, surely they are liable to pay you out anyway?

D'oh...should have read the whole thread...

I would check the will and probate first. Link shared by PP above. Your uncle may have paid off the house as your Mum gave him the whole amount as she does not want her share or plans too.
Either way, he may have got used to the idea of an extra share and may not be willing to give it up if you. Do not reveal your hand.
Check first and get a solicitor if needed to advise you.

TBF you could/should point out to your mum that you wouldn't have felt obliged to look for the will online if she hadn't been so evasive about the whole thing.

This would be illegal, as all beneficiaries of the will have to agree to any variance. So if OP’s mum refuses her own share, the rest of the beneficiaries decide how the extra share is distributed, and they need to complete a deed of variance.

Sound advice

@Lovelysausagedogscrumpy you are confusing varying (I.e redirecting ) a share, versus rejecting a share.

if you simply reject your share of inheritance, this is NOT a variation, and the sum rejected just falls into residue. No permission is needed from anyone. No one can force a person to accept a gift of money.

with a variation, you redirect where your share goes. You only need permission from the beneficiaries who are impacted by the variation. So if mum doesn't want her share and wishes to redirect elsewhere, the only permission she needs is from herself, assuming rejecting her share has no impact on the other beneficiaries, which in this circumstance is likely to be the case.