Unfair inheritance

[Sarawicks]

Hi , all options welcome,

My dad had a very successful business worth 1 M , my brother, his wife and my mother ( who I don't get on with) put emotional pressure on my our dad , 6 years before he died to sign bussiness over to my brother, my mother threatened to divorce him if he didn't sign over to brother (witnesses to prove ) , for a reduced figure of £179,000 paid over so many years , he signed over under alot of upsetment he was very ill at the time, my dad verbally told me and other sister he wanted the business to go to my brother and half the land in a separate bussiness to go to me and my sister, dad died first , and for me and sister to 50 / 50 to inherited his personal wealth , and for my brother not to have a share of personal wealth as he as inherited before he died a 1 M bussiness, he desperately wanted fairness, mother now says dad didn't have a will , ( very suspicious) and now our mother wants and done work on the will for me my brother and sister to share mam and dads personal wealth, this doesn't sit comfortably with me or my sister,

So your mother has acquired the assets other than the business, is that right?

You can find out if there was a will here:

https://www.nationalwillregister.co.uk/

Most adults don’t leave a will, by the way. And if he didn’t then by law everything would have gone to his wife. Hope you get some resolution on this.

If there was no will, the wife only gets everything if the estate was worth over a certain amount (currently £322,000) but dependant on the date of death.

Anything over that is split 50/50 between the spouse and the children.

Admittedly 1/3 of half of anything over the spousal amount is unlikely to be much but if the OP’s father had a multi million pound estate, maybe it is a largish amount.

https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will

Sorry, that should read

the wife only gets everything if the estate was worth under a certain amount

@Sarawicks sadly you are discovering that when it comes to money some people can behave very badly. You may have to accept that what you will inherit is as @CandidHedgehog says 1/3 of 50% of the estate over £322k.

As a minimum I would order a copy of probate https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate If there was a will lodged you will receive a copy.

If there is no will you then need to decide if you can live with division under intestacy rules or if you want to take this further. The difficulty is this will take a toll on you and is not likely to end up being fair.

What you could do if there is no will, is to make some enquiries to see if there ever was a will. Think about which legal firms may have helped your Dad both with the sale of the business and with day to day matters. Approach them confidentially and ask very simply do they know if your Dad had a will and do they hold it. You need to be subtle and realise they will only provide very limited info but if your Dad ever wrote a will and they hold the original they will tell you who can collect it.

My thought process is someone with a business worth £1m will very likely have had a legal professional/accountant who over the years would have advised with three children to write a will. Being cynical you are suspicious there is no will and whilst the latest will may have been mislaid a solicitor may hold an original will from decades ago.

Personally if that yields nothing I would then accept there is no way you will get more than under intestacy rules. Using a solicitor and mediation to get your inheritance.

WRT intestacy rules, do these bring the estate into Inheritance tax territory? Would your parents home need to be sold to pay the beneficiaries? In which case be very careful not to sign anything without understanding the implications. Inheritance tax comes from the estate first then it is divided as per intestacy rules.

Any jointly owned assets go directly to the joint owner.

Find a solicitor, collect as much paperwork as you can get your hands on, and go to see them. Ask them whether they think this was all above board, particularly the business transfer and also the 'he didn't have a will'. If he died intestate, then it would have had to go through the appropriate legal channels.

It also seems to me that by signing over the business for far less than it was worth, it could be seen as tax evasion. Fraud basically, and definitely not legal. Coercing someone to sign something against their wishes is also illegal.