Inheritance

[familiesandmoney]

Families and money!

I live in England uk

My Grandmother owned a house with her partner
My Grandmother died in 2006, her partner lived in the house until he died last year.
she had 5 children one of which was my father. Apparently there was a will but this has been hidden by one of my family members. My siblings and myself are listed in the will.
My dad died in 2011 in awful circumstances.

My nans house has been just been sold and the money has been split between her 4 remaining children. They are denying there is a will. Is this correct?

I’m not interested in the money, although it would be extremely helpful at present but I’m really upset how sly everyone has been and all my cousins are aware of what’s happened.

You need legal advice.

How do you know there was a will and who the beneficiary are?

Legal advice is needed, promplty.
Speak to your Nan's accountant to find out which lawyer wrote her Will.
It should be able to be found.

Hiding or suppressing a will is serious.

Your grandmother's partner (assuming they weren't married) had no automatic right to the whole house under intestacy rules. Unmarried partners get nothing automatically.

The house was likely owned in her sole name or as tenants in common. When she died, her share should have gone according to her will (or intestacy to her children).

The partner could live there (maybe via a life interest or just informally), but the property ultimately belonged to her estate.

The fact that the proceeds were split only between her 4 surviving children suggests they treated it as if she died intestate (no will) and the partner had some claim or they just divided it among themselves after he died.

You (or your siblings) can apply for a copy of the grant of probate/letters of administration from the Probate Registry for your grandmother's estate. Search online for "find a will UK" or use the GOV.UK service. It costs a small fee.

It's been a long time since 2006, so options may be limited. However, if a will was deliberately hidden or probate was obtained fraudulently (e.g. claiming no will existed when one did), there may still be routes. Talk to a solicitor.

A contentious probate solicitor can review the facts. Many offer a free initial chat. Look for ones specialising in inheritance disputes. Citizens Advice or the Law Society can help find one. Costs can sometimes be recovered from the estate if you have a strong case.

The family member who took the will, his child told us

If there was a will you could check https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/

If there was no will you may have inherited under intestacy laws. If there was a will that was destroyed hidden or ignored you would need to see if the solicitor who drafted it has a copy.

Suspect you may need legal advice.

Well it’s one of two things.

1. there was no will and you should inherit your dad’s share as per intestacy rules
2. there is a will and it should be on the probate website posted above.

either way you probably need a solicitor, unless there is a will and you have definitely been excluded from it. It can be very difficult and costly to recover your share.

How do you know you were listed in the will? Did you see a copy?

Has probate already been granted?

I just did the search on the government website. It doesn’t say probate, just administration with a number?

https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will

if they are claiming no will intact rules say you should inherit your dads share.

have you pointed this out to them?

A friend of my dd, her mum hid a will and took the money for herself, she ended up going to prison. It is a serious offence.

They do know all of this, I was told today that this has been done on purpose as one of my uncles actually said we should be getting my dad’s inheritance. It was ignored and it’s been shared between them still

If it’s administration then no will and intestacy rules apply. I think you can order the documents to double check, get the valuation of the estate etc.

if the relationship allows, ask them. If not, get a solicitor to write to the administrator for your share.

"My nans house has been just been sold and the money has been split between her 4 remaining children. They are denying there is a will. Is this correct?"

No, it isn't correct.

If there is no will then the intestacy rules kick in and this would mean that your nan's estate is split equally between all her children.

This also includes your father, even though he died before she did. In this situation, his share of your nan's house is shared between you and your siblings.

If the administrator of the will does not provide you with your correct inheritance then you will need to speak to a solicitor.

It all sounds a bit odd. What happened to your grandmother’s estate in 2006 ie everything except the house? Was this shared under the intestacy rules (due to ‘missing will’) between the five children as your dad was alive then and who applied for the letters of administration? It’s a bit odd that the partner remained in then house when there was no will to specify a life time interest and it was presumably in her sole name.

"It was ignored and it’s been shared between them still"

In that case you definitely need to speak to a solicitor. If you google something like "contentious probate solicitor [name of your town]" then that will give you a list of solicitors in your area who have experience of dealing with these sorts of issues.

How much was the house worth?
Because unless it was several hundreds of thousands, your share may not be worth the legal costs of pursuing it.
Plus unless your case is watertight, with proof, you may pay big legal fees and gain nothing.
Think carefully about whether to go for this, especially if you are only looking at a few thousand to gain.
Would it be better to just cut the thieving bastards out of your life and move on?

@ShanghaiDivayes that’s correct, my dad died after. The inheritance before was split equally between the 5 children then. This time, because my dad had died they split it between 4. It’s looking likely she didn’t have a will or did but not done through a solicitor.

Ok. The partner continuing to live in the house is all a bit odd, but that’s another issue!
I would send a letter to the relative who applied for letters of administration and reference the intestacy rules and request your share to be distributed within 28 days or you will commence legal action. Send recorded delivery.
You may want to include details of possible consequences where administrators/executors have not followed the rules/will.
As
@StandingDeskDisco you may not wish to pursue a case depending on the value of the property and legal costs, but sending a letter yourself costs nothing.

If it was just the case that your grandmother died without a will, the house should have been divided between the 5 children at that time. Was this legally done, but with a lifetime interest for the partner to live there? Or did the partner inherit the house at the time, and he's left it to the surviving four children?

It all sounds a bit complicated, and may not be as simple as the normal intestate rules applying. It depends on what actually (legally and financially) happened at the time of your grandmother's death.

You definitely need legal advice.

The son was still alive when grandmother died so he/his estate would have inherited a share

@budgiegirl the partner didn’t inherit the house. To be honest the family fell apart once my grandmother died. I was a teenager when she died, so I don’t know the logistics of that completely. I just know her partner stayed in the house but recently died. I have just spoken to one of my cousins who I still see regularly and they confirmed the money was split between the four remaining siblings as her father had told them. She said her father tried to encourage the others to split the money between 5 and include my siblings and I, but this wasn’t what happened. I really shouldn’t be surprised as they are quite a selfish family, not one of them checked in on my siblings and I when our dad died. It was sudden and unexpected by suicide. At 22, I was arranging my father’s funeral on my own. My siblings were fairly young and struggled with everything. I will pay for the information on the probate and wills website to see what that says. I will also start looking for a solicitor.

Also if ops dad died after the grandmother then actually that 20% of the grandmother's estate was technically already part of OPs dad's estate and the children should have received it when her dad died. What a mess.

By all means contact a solicitor but personally I would send a strongly worded letter to all four of them asap they could be spending it as you speak and be a bigger pain to get it off them.

By informing them now, the family members with an actual conscience may just pay up your share so at least you get something early and you can limit any case to the remaining ones/executer if there is one.

Surely if there was a house the estate would have gone through probate??

So it sounds like you need:

your nan’s will or letters of administration- couple of £ from the .gov website.

if there was no will how has the partner been living in it, as there will not have a life provision.

possibly the partners will, as if the house went to him as a joint owner this may be where the discrepancy is.

your dad’s will. Just in case his share has not been left to you.

then at least when you see the solicitor you won’t waste expensive time with questions you can’t answer.

sympathies. I have a solicitor for similar, where an executor just says the estate is settled and nothing is owed to the beneficiaries, when we know there was money.

I know the wishes in my mil will ( still alive ) as she has shown it to me . In it she leaves it equally between 4 people . It also states in the event of one of those dying it is then shared equally between the remaining names people .
Perhaps your grandmother's will had that type of wording on it as well .
I agree it's difficult for the children of a deceased beneficiary , but a will is a will .