Inheritance - someone has been taking money out of the estate before division

[Natsku]

DD has inherited a share in her great-grandparents estate because her dad and his mum are already dead so she inherits their share. The great-grandparents died years ago but the estate has not been divided yet, not entirely sure why but at least part of the reason is because there's disagreement over the value of the cottage that is part of it. DD is under 18 so I am legally obliged to ensure she gets her fair share so I cannot agree to an undervalued division and that division has to be approved by the authorities (we're not in the UK, I don't fully understand the legalities here but enough to know this) so I have to agree with those parties insisting on a more recent valuation of the cottage rather than the value from over 20 years ago, which one family member is insisting the division split is based on. This family member has sole use of the cottage (but also responsibility for its maintenance) and has the estate cash funds in a bank account in his control. We asked for bank statements for that account and they show that he has been taking large amounts of money out of the account. Some large amounts have been transferred to other family members that are due shares in the inheritance so it looks like he's been giving them their shares early, even though the estate hasn't been distributed yet, and other transfers are to his own personal account, some of which he claims are so he could pay bills related to the cottage, others he hasn't written an explanation. There's a lot less money left in the account now.

I'm fed up of all the hassle of this, been trying to sort it out for 8 years now (since DD's dad died and I found out about it all), DD's dad died with a lot of debt that needs to be paid out of that money before DD can see any of it and I just want it to be over but it also seems to be that it can't be legal what he's done and he's surely cheating DD out of her rightful share so maybe its time to report him to the police?

I'd be calling the police now before the person spends all your daughter's inheritance. I've seen similar incidents occur and the person has splurged the money and it's so hard to claw anything back.

He probably shouldn't have taken anything until probate was sorted, just kept a record of what he was owed. He needs to back anything he took up with bills showing the purpose and amount needed and receipts showing it was spent on those things.

I can't speak for Finland but when I sorted an estate (not UK), it was quite valid to have taken funeral and debt expenses from the estate to settle the bills outstanding. The person I sorted it for had died intestate and didn't have much anyway, but it still took nine months for it all to be sorted.

You tell this sticky fingered gentleman that you are reporting the matter to the police and if all the monies are not returned he will no doubt be jailed for embezallment and fraud. Tell him you are getting an independent valuation done of the house and from that you will work out your daughter's share! If he agrees to transfer your daughters rightful share you will then drop the matter, leave them all to it. If not, he is facing jail time!

It could be a police matter as its sounds like fraud. I would call the police and check who you should report it to. I don't know how you call them from overseas so best to Google the police force local to the estate. Don't be surprised if they direct you to action fraud.

I would also engage a solicitor for your daughter. The distinction between the solicitor acting for your daughter vs you is important.

Sadly money and greed are a bad mix. I hope it gets sorted.

To set you mind more at rest, a recent trial in UK sorted out exactly this issue with a sum of several £m having been used and needing to be paid back so the estate could be split. This was required by court even though the person who was being diddled by his sister is due a lot less than that amount.

Well that's good that the courts got a good result in that case. Perhaps they take it more seriously when its such large sums. I wonder what happens if there's no money left to pay back though.

Going to call DD's aunt and try to formulate a plan.

Finland tends to be quite open re finances (you can call the tax office and find out how much someone earns for example) so hopefully banks etc should be transparent about transactions etc if or when needed.

Good luck.

It’s not that they take it more seriously when large sums are involved, it’s that usually to get a criminal conviction you have to take it through the civil courts first to force the production of the accounts/documentation.

once you have that, you have evidence to pass to the police.

civil courts costs ££££, so it’s only worth going through the process if the estate is larger. Most estates the court fees will exceed your share of the estate, so it’s not worth the risk. You’d need to be 100% sure a crime had been committed as well to risk it, as you could also be landed with paying both sides legal fees if the executor has done nothing criminal.

Yeah that makes sense. Luckily the guy already sent us the evidence, via his lawyer. He must feel very confident that we won't go to the police (though he'd have to send it anyway, we have a legal right to view the account transactions)