Squabbles about inheritance

No one sibling can force a sale, but if there is a compelling reason for wanting the property sold you can try to obtain a court order. You would have to write to your other siblings via a solicitor, setting out a strong case for the sale - this gives them the opportunity to discuss and set out their reasons for disputing a sale, after which you can then apply for a court order. Success ultimately depends on who makes the more compelling case.

In the event that the house is not sold, you might want to give some thought as to the ‘tenancy’ of each sibling. If you are joint tenants, all siblings have equal rights to the entire house and if any sibling dies, their share passes to the other joint tenants. This means that only the final surviving brother or sister can make a provision in their will to leave the property to someone. If siblings decide to become tenants in common, each sibling will own a defined portion of the house.

Smileless thank you for saying that’s the right attitude. Sometimes it crosses my mind that maybe I’m a bit naive about this but on the whole don’t want to fight anyone about it.

A solicitor friend told me that solicitors can grow rich on DIY wills.

Good analogy Norah. I worked in a different area of law and wouldn’t dream of writing a will for myself or anyone else. I used someone I trusted who specialised in wills and probate.

Germanshepherdsmum

They sure are. But people are told it’s easy and they believe it. If it was so straightforward why would solicitors have to study for years? The size of my textbook on the subject had to be seen to be believed. It was an incredibly complex subject. People really have no idea of the mess they can leave behind.

Experts are experts for a reason. We'd not attempt our own heating servicing, why attempt diy wills?

They sure are. But people are told it’s easy and they believe it. If it was so straightforward why would solicitors have to study for years? The size of my textbook on the subject had to be seen to be believed. It was an incredibly complex subject. People really have no idea of the mess they can leave behind.

There was an interesting article in the paper to-day about the problems caused by DIY wills . So many things can go wrong they are a false economy .

vickymeldrew and Germanshepherdsmum thank you very much for your advice. ?

I'm really not interested in possesions,but,when my MIL died recently my SIL grabbed everything she could from the house including ALL the jewellery that MIL had promised to my D and gd's and her GF's violin which was to go to my OH.The sad thing is she'll put it in her already stuffed attic and it will never see the light of day whereas my OH would have had it refurbished and hung it on the wall .The jewellery has angered my D as her girls would have loved a keepsake from Nana who they adored.
SIL says ...her mum ... so they are her things .

I use my will to terrorise my children. if they displease me I tell them that I will cut them out of my will.

By the way, before anyone takes the above sentence seriously it is a joke, Yes I do as it says, but only as a joke, and AC know it is.

Yes. Hate this grabbing behaviour. We have a will that leaves everything equally between two daughters. There is no bequest for grandchildren as their parents will give them what they judge to be right. In this way there is no bad feeling if one has several children and another none or one. Should either not survive then the money will go to her children or in the case of the daughter without children it would revert to our other daughter.

Two of my three daughters don't get on with each other for various justifiable reasons. However my late husband always wanted anything we had left to be shared 30% to each girl and 10% to grandchildren. My house is in a trust so half of it officially already does. I have changed my will so that the majority of any residue estate will go to the grandchildren. All 9 of my beneficiaries are well aware of the fact I am I tending to spend enough to keep myself safe, and happy. If there's nothing left then sobeit. I'm 70 and if I'm lucky have at least 10 years to go.

Something similar happened in DH's family, Piskey, although no large sums were involved. A childless aunt had made a will leaving her estate to her nephew on the understanding he would act towards her as a good son would. He didn't, but one of her neighbours did and when she died it was found that she had revised her will and left her whole estate to the neighbour, who had been such a kind and caring friend, cutting out her nephew completely.

My friend was quite wealthy and spent last 10 years of her life in a care home. She left over a million to her housekeeper. Her will stated that £1.000 (for anyone who had visited her in the home ) per visit would go to any person that had visited her. Two sons and a nephew tried to overturn the will in court. Judge asked them how many times they had visited her. On hearing that they hadn’t seen my friend in years, judge said they were not entitled to a penny. The housekeeper had visited nearly every day.

Money really is the root of all evil, people fall out whilst at tge funeral. My dad had the right idea, spend the lot.

Really * we're about our children getting on.

Mistype above

f77ms

I have 4 children and they will inherit equally regardless of who's done what . I would never want to cause problems between them after my death . Awful thread !

Indeed.

We're leaving equal shares to our 4 daughters, no matter who is easier to get on with at moment. We love them unconditionally and wouldn't want to make them feel unloved from the grave.

To do other could cause a squabble, we're not our children getting on.

I have 4 children and they will inherit equally regardless of who's done what . I would never want to cause problems between them after my death . Awful thread !

When I lived in France, where the law is different (law of succession whereby children inherit ....) my late husband died which meant I either had to buy my step daughter out, or sell and by law she had half. I called her in the UK when her father was given only a few days to live and asked her to come as he would like to see her before he died. She is single, no children, not working, has two cats and no 'boyfriend or partner .... living in a flat an inheritance from her late grandmother helped to buy, (which she sold, in London for £350,000 and bought a much cheaper flat on the
coast (the inheritance was left to my late husband and his late wife ...but he gave it to her so she could afford to buy her flat in Westminster many years ago much cheaper than she sold it for !) She said she was too busy to come to France (although I offered to pay the fare, pick her up from the airport as I usually did !) however she declined to come...THEN when he died, first thing she said was Do I get my half ? I can come over and sign anything !) I was FURIOUS ...she could come over for the money but NOT to see her father when he was dying !!!!!!!!!111 luckily the Notaire was on my side, and ensured she got the absolute minimum he could by law give her !!!! she said she was going to contest it...my notaire said French law has no option for this, and she can try but it will cost her far more than she has been given, and may take two or three years and she will end up OWING the French government money (plus she would have to employ an Advocat at vast expense, as well as going back and forth to France. I NO LONGER keep in touch with her ...can't forgive her for that !

Well done you Sago, don't think I could be that noble.

Sago

Where there’s a will there’s a relative!

I was the only one that did anything for my narcissistic mother. I had had to go to the COP to get Deputyship, I dealt with all her affairs, the nursing home who wanted “top up” fees,her finances that were all over the place, I had two years of enormous stress that caused me to have panic attacks.

I knew that I was not a beneficiary in the will but did it all whilst trying to make sure that I could hang onto as much money as possible from her estate.
I cleared her house on my own, worked hard to get a private sale to save agents fees.
My three children were among the beneficiaries and they all thanked me for all I had done, the other beneficiaries didn’t even acknowledge their huge bank transfers.

My brother was the Golden Child, who did nothing for years, not even a Christmas card for her, I was the scapegoat.

At least I know that I always behaved honourably and honestly.

You do sound bitter though, even though your children were benefiting. It does explain your cruel remark on my previous post.

An old friend had her mother living with her for 20 years, brother came up from London occasionally. Mother insisted it was only fair to split her savings equally. When she died kind brother insisted that his sister kept it all.
On the other hand my ex husband persuaded his dying aunt to change her will to cut out our son from her will. Son now refers to him as his biological parent.

My father, God love him, left me £200. No house to sell, because it was rented. He was a lovely, decent man!

My sister, I actually hate referring her as that, never visited or did anything for my mum for years. After my father died, who was constantly paying off loan sharks, etc for her secretly behind my mum's back, she cut all ties because the bank of dad had gone.
When my mum died she never even went to her funeral, but yet 5 weeks later a solicitors letter arrived asking to see the will because she wanted to know what she was 'entitled to'. I've never met anyone as heartless in my life. The ties shall remain forever cut.

I had an aunt and uncle who had a good deal of money. They had one son who had two children. When they died their son’s children sued their father because they felt the inheritance that their grandparents left to them WASN’T ENOUGH!!