Private/Wills

[PinkOtter]

Hello happy new year everyone!

my mother passed away in 2021, my sister did the probate as no will and at the time I didn’t question it. My mother left her house valued at £130,000.

I got a call when completed from her stating “mum had unexpected debts we didn’t know about so there’s £1000 each left” I just accepted that and left it at that.

a few months ago I requested the certificate, and it stated there was no debts at all, the house was sold to my sisters daughter, and recently learnt from extended family that some got a good chunk of that money, so I’m thinking to speak to a solicitor shortly to see where I stand

is this Will fraud? I was in no way estranged from my mother, and no reason I should’ve been left out of her estate.

@PinkOtter no doubt the daughter would have also received a huge discount on the house!

She's pretty stupid not to realise you'd find out especially as the house was sold, who else in the family benefitted.

I’m not sure who benefitted, for sure is my mothers long term partner, and my niece just not sure of amounts

So she didn't follow the intestate rules then

Was mum married or in a civil partnership with her partner

Personally I wouldn't do anything until I'd gotten advice. You need to play this one by the book.

Yes definitely fraud if it’s as you told it. You need to sue the executor - a split or will be able to help you. Hopefully your sister will need to reimburse your legal fees - she would have needed to have acted fraudulently which it looks like what has happened - so you can expect your inheritance and not pay the cost of putting it right

Solicitor” not split 😂😂

You can get free half hour with solicitor to explore the facts and they will clarify options

usually the first step is to write to executor and ask them to explain actions - this not apply now it’s been administered

Ask you sister when debts came to light. All probate does is allow you to act - but again you should have been consulted as a potential beneficiary

💯 you need a solicitor to sort this out for you.

Money does funny things to people - would appear that your greedy lying sister (based on what you’ve said here) is no exception.

Agree. Get all the information, copies of probate, house sale, any debts, costs, messages from sister, bank accounts if you can. Play it slowly and factually.

Check on Zoopla or Rightmove, you can usually find out when any house was last sold, and for how much. And cross-check against similar houses in the neighbourhood to see if the sale was at fair market value, or less.

Checked similar houses and they are all more than what it was sold for so most likely undersold the house aswell!

not sure whether to message her myself first or just wait till I get legal advice

Agree 100 percent must be solicitor as you will have to stump up the money for them to open a file and pay ongoing costs until it’s settled and it’s a complicated business

if it’s an open and shut case of fraud you may want to go “no win no fee” if you can’t finance the initial costs

Well that’s misconduct of an executor. They are there to get the most value for beneficiaries

there will have been a process where someone said they would administer the estate as it was intestate, but in my experience you would have been notified of the potential executors and consulted beforehand - there are actual forms for it - it’s to stop this kind of thing - like what they ask in church when you get married - isn’t there anyone who blah blah blah

The absolutely key question here is whether your mother was married to, or in a civil partnership with, her partner. If she was, then he should have been the main or only beneficiary. If she wasn't, then in the absence of a will he wasn't entitled to get anything. I am not a lawyer so not certain but I think if you and your sister and any other siblings had all agreed you could have given him a portion of the estate using a deed of variation. It was not your sister's sole decision to make.

I'd. Message her. If you start out with a solicitor then things could get quite sour quickly. Ultimately it's your sister so I'd prioritise a relationship and so ask her in a neutral way and see how she responds. It won't make any difference legally.

Legal partners get the first 200k then 50 percent of the rest, not all of it

If you die intestate

Estate here sounds well under 200k.

If she's defrauded her own sister the relationship is over. Why would OP want a continuing relationship with her if what she suspects is true?

Sorry to bang on about your home insurance, but as well as the free helpline, you might have cover for legal expenses for this. Which could make a huge difference to how you approach things. So do check your policy and the helpline first.

Not known yet

As PP have said, you should be able to find out exactly what the house sold for from Zoopla or Rightmove, as they are updated via the land registry.

There you’ll know what it was valued at for the Letters of Administration, vs what it ‘sold’ for.

Although of course your sister could have down valued for the LofA.

In any event I’d message her stating factually something like ‘I’ve received copies of the Letters of Administration / certificate (and any other documentation) and would like to discuss this with you by phone’. Very unambiguous, will allow her to confess, or not. Don’t mention solicitors - just see what the reaction is. Say phone as you;ll hear whether she's tying herself in knots. Messages won’t be the same, although would give you an audit trail.