Inheritance from grandad hidden by Mum

[Juniper33]

This is a weird one but I'd welcome some advice.

My grandad passed away in 2012, he was a lovely man and I'd made the effort in my 20s to visit as much as I could. Growing up I only saw him a handful of times as we lived at opposite ends of the country and my mum never tried to build a relationship for us.

In his later years my mum did not visit him, even after he bought her a car so she could drive to see him. He was a lovely and generous man. He lived with my aunt and uncle. My mum fell out with them many years prior over inheritance as she wanted my grandad to cash out the inheritance and give it to the grandchildren whilst he was alive - to me, my brother and a cousin, he declined and my mum and uncle never spoke again, until he was in hospital before he passed away.

In 2012 I was away travelling and on my return my mum said there was nothing left of your grandads and that aunty and uncle spent it all. She then started sending me gifts, £250 for a wedding the previous year, £20 for Easter eggs, £40 to go out for pizzas. Thinking now this was out of character (we have never been close) and I wonder if she was asked to pass on my inheritance but never did, but gave me the gifts in lieu.

How do I broach this without a relationship breakdown?

You can obtain a copy of his will online - there's a yougov site. You need approx date of death and his name, costs a tenner.

Do you still speak to your aunt and uncle?? You could ask them?

Yes, as advised you need to get a copy of the will.

Only what’s written in it will make any difference. Your grandfather verbally asking your Mum to give you £x will have no bearing whatsoever (if you believe that’s what has happened).

I’m no expert but If you were an adult when your GF passed, I don’t think if you were officially due any money then it would have been passed to any other family member to keep safe or pass on to you, even if you were away travelling.

Thanks for your replies, I will obtain the will from you gov. Does the executor get notified?

I haven't asked my aunt and uncle, or my mum as I find it such a hard subject to discuss. I don't want to sound like a money grabber, I'm not even interested in money, I'm just interested to know if he did leave me anything. He had lots of lovely books and items from his travels, shells, tapestries etc.

I don’t think they would be notified, no.
As far as I understand it wills become public records, and anyone can access them.

Thank you 19Lottie82 and everyone else for your replies . Il get on to you gov and report back!

Assuming there was a will, the executor has, by law, to carry out its instructions implicitly. So if you were named in it, you would have had to have the money/chattels that he stated you should have.

It sounds likely that there was some money, but it went to your mum and her DB, maybe your mum doesnt want to admit she has come into any money?

Unfortunately, as pp said, any verbal instructions were just that, and could be ignored. Maybe see if your aunt and uncle have anything they would pass on as a memento?

Hope you at least have a will to see.

Thanks for all the replies, I got the copy of the will from you gov, the estate was split between my mum and uncle, with my Mum getting a very small percentage, which worked out at around £20k.
However there were no instructions for grandchildren or possessions. I imagine this was so his children could decide, which is fair enough.

I will ask auntie and uncle re momento.

Thanks again