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Would you be upset if it happened to you?

93 replies

Earlybird · 17/02/2006 09:43

Read in the paper today that Robin Cook left an estate worth approx £565,000. His second wife Gaynor is to receive over £500,000 and his two sons (by first wife) are to receive £20,000 each. Both sons are in their early 30's.

Does that seem fair? How would you feel if you were one of his sons?

OP posts:
Blu · 17/02/2006 10:25

It MAY be that he left a huge lot more to Margaret in the divorce settlement, on the understanding that that money would be passed to the boys. Agree that the £500k is probably the house. It seems a v small estate fir someone in Robin Cook's position, tbh - given house values, so i would geuess that money has been tied up in trust for the sons before the inheritance tax loopholes were tightened.
But in general, yes, i think it stinks if people leave all thier estate to a second partner rathere than to their children from a former partnership.

expatinscotland · 17/02/2006 10:25

It wouldn't surprise me if I were one of his sons. I would have seen it coming.

Freckle · 17/02/2006 10:27

The bulk of his estate might well be the marital home, in which case he will have worded his will to ensure that his wife didn't have to sell it in order to pay the sons their share.

Sponge · 17/02/2006 10:27

I wouldn't be pissed off at all. If my dad died I would expect everything to go to my mum for as long as she's alive - she's his partner and dependent and the one who's looked after him. I don't see how this is any diffeernt just because she's not the children's mother. I would however expect a provision in the will for how the estate would be split in the event of her death.

Blandmum · 17/02/2006 10:29

dh's father did fuck all for him when he was alive and fuck all in the will. Dh didn't contest, said he couldn't be bothered and that it had simply confirmend that his father had no interest in him at all, and never had. Except when he could boast that his son was an RAF fighter pilot. never did a thing to help him, ever.

CarolinaMoon · 17/02/2006 10:31

He could have left his sons a fair bit more and still been within the IHT threshold.

Tbh it's a bit odd not to leave pretty much all your estate to your spouse, if you've got no other dependents.

Blu · 17/02/2006 10:32

Do you think so, CM? When your spouse is not the parent of your children?

kittyfish · 17/02/2006 10:34

The inheritance tax ceiling is £200,000 so he could have given that much to each son and 100,000 to Gaynor. Much fairer as she will get his very generous pension plus her own as she is a civil servant I think (his press secretary or something?).

iota · 17/02/2006 10:35

kittyfish- the IHT limit is £285K I think - and that's total not per beneficiary

iota · 17/02/2006 10:37

am convinced by Blu's theory that the bulk of his estate was put into trusts etc to avoid as much IHT as possible - £500K is nothing for a man of his position

iota · 17/02/2006 10:38

on teh other hand he did have to fund a divorce settlement a few yrs ago

zippitippitoes · 17/02/2006 10:38

I think late in life relationships would often reflect in the will, I would be fed up if exh married now and his estate was mostly left to her rather than mostly to his children

tigermoth · 17/02/2006 10:38

Your dh is amazing not to feel more bitter about it MB. You must have both been speechless to be given a bill for the wake.

Macwoozy, sympathies - how hard for you, as you know your stepmother is going against your father's wishes. Is there no way you can fight this?

CarolinaMoon · 17/02/2006 10:39

Blu, I bet Cook thought he had a good 20 years or so left in him - they'd be 50-odd by then and so well past needing financial help (and they're old enough as it is to be standing on their own two feet).

Blandmum · 17/02/2006 10:40

I only found out after the event, or I would have walked out. We only paid so that dhs brothers were not left out of pocket.

dh kissed his father off a long time ago. Always thought him a total waste of space.

Caligula · 17/02/2006 11:04

Interesting macwoozy that your father and family had "an understanding" that after your stepmother's death, the estate would revert back to you. "Understandings" are useless. Black and white legal contracts are the thing. It's just amazing how many people in Britain don't put down on paper exactly what they want to happen to their money.

But I'm sure Robin Cook wouldn't have made that mistake. I also don't think he would have done a will on the basis of "I won't die for another 20 years". Everyone intelligent (which he was) makes a will on the basis that they might die later on today or in 50 years time and a will has to cover both contingencies. His priority was obviously his widow. But who knows what he did financially for his sons in his lifetime.

expatinscotland · 17/02/2006 11:05

And we ended up paying for the wake, his 2nd wife told us what we 'owed' her
He always was a total tosser

He'd have been SOL (shit outta luck) if I'd have been one of his kids, MB. Cuz I wouldn't have been able to afford to pay for his wake, so he wouldn't have had one. End of.

expatinscotland · 17/02/2006 11:06

Robin Cook always was a waste of space, IMO. Like I said, if he'd been my dad I'd have seen that coming and made plans accordingly.

Blu · 17/02/2006 11:08

CM - I think Macwoozy's sad situation shows exactly the dangers of 'assuming' anything. As Caligual says, the whole poinbt of wills, contracts, etc is to provide the back up when the assumptions go awry! If we have as much as a bean to leave, we should all create watertight wills, now! (ahem....must see solicitor - a job which has been on the list since DP and I bought house together )

Blandmum · 17/02/2006 11:09

expat....this little bomb shell was dropped on us after the wake! the widow....she in receipot of the estate, told us what we owed her!

Had she made it clear up front, none of us would have gone. As it was , it was a huge hassle, getting to the wake with the kids etc etc. far more trouble than the bloke was worth. And to be asked to pay , was just plain insulting.

As I said, dh paid so that his brothers (who were also being stiffed) didn't end up paying 'our' share.

Bink · 17/02/2006 11:11

Blu, please please do your will - specially as you're not married - we've seen sad consequences of not doing so with a friend of ours.

expatinscotland · 17/02/2006 11:14

MB,
No offense, but I'd have told her to go to hell. Honestly, how can she have made you pay? You didn't sign an agreement, or even have a verbal agreement beforehand. So I'd have not minced words on that and told her, 'Frankly, you can go to fuck.'

Seriously, she would've had no luck w/me, anyhow, would have been like trying to get blood out of a stone.

Blu · 17/02/2006 11:14

Bink - yes. Will do it today! Thank you. What happened to your friends?

Blandmum · 17/02/2006 11:15

dh and his brothers are all to 'nice' to do that. They take after their mother.....

expatinscotland · 17/02/2006 11:16

He's a bigger man than I am, MB . Cuz if I had a dad like that I wouldn't have bothered about him at all. Too bad he didn't realise what he had before he popped his clogs.