If you are left money in a will, how long after someone dies do you get the money?

[MrsSchadenfreude]

My mother was left a significant sum of money by her partner when he died earlier this year. The rest went to his niece, who is a solicitor and also executor of the will. My Mum knows she was a significant beneficiary of the will and is concerned that she is not going to see the money as it is now about 6 months since her partner died and she has heard nothing. And is there any way that the other beneficiary can stop her getting her inheritance?

My dear friend of 40yrs died 4 weeks ago, And left me and 5 others in his will, He doesn't own any property, But had quite abit of money in a single bank account, I feel so awkward to ask his niece who is executor of his will when I will hear from his solicitor or herself about my inheritance, Or maybe it's to early? Just unsure what to do.

I am a beneficiary of a will but not heard anything from the solicitors the gentlemen I looked after passed away over 16 mths ago.
Is this normal ?

@Barney777, 16 months is quite a long time and I would have expected to hear something by now. I’d get in touch with either the family or solicitor.

I’d suggest that your mum speaks to the niece, to at least make her aware that she knows she’s named as a beneficiary.

I have been an executor and got on with things pretty swiftly. Had grant of probate 2 weeks after death, house sale went through 7 months later at which point I was able to distribute to the beneficiaries.

If the niece is the executor and a beneficiary I imagine she’s onto it but I think it’s important that your mum speaks up to her just in case niece tried to get away without passing on her share.

She can't get probate until she has found out what he has and what is owed. This can take weeks to gather info and check for pensions etc.
She will know the amount to be distributed when probate goes in.
I would ask her how things are progressing.
If he had a new will does she even have this? Is she working on an older will? Your mum needs to check.

Bansine, I am not a probate lawyer but I did wind up my father's estate which took me 100 hours (I recorded them all) and some estate are very complicated. The process is they first work out what money there is - look for share certificates, building society books at home, national savings certificates; then they wind down a business if the person had one - my father still had money coming in from that to an extent; they then have to settle the tax affairs with HMRC who are notoriously slow - months just to reply to each letter - HMRC have to confirm there is no more tax due and the tax affairs are up to date I believe.

They then look at debts etc - eg if the person has a mortgage or loan agreements with a company or family members.

They apply for a grant of probate and declaer the figures they p ut on that are true eg value of house. I believe they have to pay the 40% inheritance tax (if any is due) on the assets such as the house before it is sold which is a massive problem for many who have to take out loans to cover the tax as it can take a few years to sell a house.

Eventually the will is published but not immediately on death. Most solicitors would be giving regular updates so it is probably best for those asking on this thread to find out who the solicitor is if they can or if a family member is executor contact them and just ask politely for an update. If there is a lot of money and no debts it is not unusual to make an interim payment with the balance decided based on how much the house sells for etc but that is not always possible.

As said above sometimes people make new wills - my father did after our mother died (although in our case he sent it copies to us all as we tend to do in this famly so everyone always knows what is going on) .