Inheritance

[chocolatesaltyballs22]

Need advice please. My daughter (17) has inherited a substantial sum from her grandparents on my ex husband's side. They died several years ago and I knew there was an amount held in trust for her until she's 25. I didn't realise there was an issue until recently when my ex brother in law got in touch with me.

Basically there was a pot of money split between 3 surviving grandchildren. The issue is that my ex has since had another child (who his parents didn't even know existed) and is now contesting the Will to try and get his new child a share of the money, despite what the will says. His brother is obviously tied up in all this as it impacts how much his kids will get. It's likely to go to court and as part of that we are trying to get the money released for my daughter when she is 18 so that he no longer has control over her.

My concern is that my ex has control over the trust and we know that he has not ringfenced my daughter's money from his own inheritance. So if he died tomorrow the money would likely be split between his two children.

His brother has fallen out with him over this and has a solicitor involved. My ex is very controlling and abusive and my daughter rarely sees him any more. He's being very difficult about the whole thing and just keeps telling my daughter that she doesn't need to worry about it. I don't trust him.

Do I need to get my own solicitor involved or should I leave it to the brother? I could really do without the extra worry at the moment but I don't want my daughter being screwed over by her own father.

So he lied about paying out his own pocket in order to get out of maintenance? Was the holiday one just he went on or they went on together? Noth things sound like they were designed to benefit him. Trustees who misuse funds can be ordered to pay. His solicitor friend is also financially liable. I think you need to chase both of them though court. The money was supposed to be held for her until age 25. There are types of trust funds where money can be used for things like education but as far as I am aware this would have had to have been expressed in a letter of wishes. It's not uncommon to leave a trust fund for school fees but it will be set up for that specific purpose. Absolutely no way is this legal. It benefited him by getting out of maintenance. I would contact his solicitor friend and make him aware that if ex can't replace the money he needs to cough up 90k. Trustees are jointly and severely liable. This is a really obvious misuse of funds. Where they expensive holidays the ex himself planned? Trustees absolutely must not seld benefit fro the fund in any way because well its fraud.

How will his friend react when told hes jointly responsible for the fraud?

I would look into going after maintenance too.

@NoSquirrels that's correct. My ex BIL is going to court regarding the rest of the money so that he doesn't get control of it.

Re the maintenance - yes. I agreed to a reduced amount, and then nothing, on the basis that he was paying school fees. I'm thinking I should also pursue him for backdated maintenance but that's a drop in the ocean compared to the rest of it.

As regards the holiday, he planned it and they both went. He made out he was dad of the year by taking her on such an extravagant holiday.

As you can imagine we are both furious.

PS the second child is only a baby.

Gosh what a dick! Have you got a solicitor yet? If not, no more delaying, get on it ASAP.

Please go to court as a trustee he can have his assets seized I believe. If he cant pay both backdated maintenance and the 90k all of it then get the 90k from his friend. They are both liable. If the funds could be spent on education things would have been set up differently as I think trusts for education are different. He needs to give her the money as an adult like he is supposed to no matter what. Unless there were specific instructions left by the testator to spend on education then its fraud plain and simple.

What does his solicitor friend say about the fact they have both done fraud with regard to BOTH trustees are responsible for managing funds. Both trustees must make decisions together so a court may assume solicitor friend knew OR was negligent.

The solicitor friend is not answering any emails. He just passes them all on to the ex to handle. Solicitor friend has also apparently advised him that it was perfectly legal for him to use the money for this purpose. But I only have exes word for this.

What a slippery fucker Op - hope you get a good solicitor and can protect her money (or at least what's left of it).

In your email to the solicitor you need to say that you will be seeking legal council, informing any partners at the firm he works at and reporting him to the bar council. At the moment he’s fobbing you off and assuming you’re going to go away. Let him know you are not.

Re the maintenance - yes. I agreed to a reduced amount, and then nothing, on the basis that he was paying school fees. I'm thinking I should also pursue him for backdated maintenance but that's a drop in the ocean compared to the rest of it.

If you have it in writing from him that he will pay school fees in lieu of maintenance I'd say that was clear proof of him agreeing to fund the fees (or at least his half of the fees, with you paying the other half) himself. He might have shot himself in the foot there...

I would ask.rx BiL who his solicitor is and ask if your dd can be represented by them too. You would have to pay towards costs but you.need to protect your dd inheritance. If all 3 chidren are represented and go to court they will have a stronger case so ex BiL will probably agree.

@Idontgiveagriffindamn

In your email to the solicitor you need to say that you will be seeking legal council, informing any partners at the firm he works at and reporting him to the bar council. At the moment he’s fobbing you off and assuming you’re going to go away. Let him know you are not.

I'd say don't contact ex's solicitor at all at the moment. Play your cards close to your chest. And leave all correspondence to your own solicitor.

You cannot claim backdated maintenance - at least, not directly.

There appear to be at least three issues here.

Firstly, the trustees should be able to provide accounts to show what money has been spent, where it went and how much remains.

Secondly, there is the question of whether the funds have been spent correctly. That depends on the terms of the trust. The will may prohibit them from spending anything until your daughter is 25. However, if the will does not have a provision along these lines, the trustees can spend money from the trust for the benefit of your daughter (Trustee Act 1925). That would cover things like spending on school fees. You need to check exactly what the will says. However, the trustees cannot spend money for the benefit of themselves or anyone else. If they have, they are personally liable to refund the money they have spent improperly.

Thirdly, if you can prove that your ex said that he would personally pay school fees provided you took reduced or nil maintenance, that sounds like fraud. He has made a false representation (saying that he would pay school fees himself) to cause you a loss. I'm not saying the police would be interested but they might be. You may be able to bring a civil case against him to recover your losses.

You need to get proper legal advice.

As a trustee it is a legal requirement to communicate with beneficiaries. The solicitor will know this he will just be hoping you dont. A trustee refusing to communicate with a beneficiary is a big reason for removal.

He can try to get away with some of it but half of the money was spend directly on him. Indefensible.

I think I've won the battle. My daughter has just had an email from him stating he will replace all the money straight away if we can 'draw a line under this.' Clearly he still has to follow through on that but I'm counting it as a victory. The threat of legal action clearly had him shitting himself.

Well done! And you have it in writing should you need to involve a solicitor

I wonder if his solicitor friend realising he could be financially liable too helped ? Congratulations!!!!!

I reckon it definitely did @Thehouseofmarvels - have told my daughter she should be glad she's got such a badass mum who has taken these dodgy fuckers on! 😂

She must be so proud of you! It's nice shes now had private school paid and got inhearitance which isn't what ex wanted...

She's very very lucky. Apart from having a controlling and emotionally abusive dad!

Well done. Make sure he follows through.

And get the full accounts!