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My brother, a qualified accountant, did all the work as executor for my Dad’s estate. He’d left an uncomplicated will, and my bother consulted me and brother no 2 about everything. We all agreed to make some gifts from the estate to people who had supported my Dad in his later years, something which wasn’t in the will, and included a legacy for a great-grandchild who was born shortly after the death so that they all received the same. We each gave half of our share of the estate to our children, which was expressed as a non-binding wish in the will.

I guess it helped that my brothers and I get on very well. Dad died in July 2019 and the money was distributed in February. We sold his house in October 2020 and the proceeds of that were shared out in the same proportions. There were no complications and no disputes at all.

I will be leaving my money and house to charities because my family have enough money and there own homes and I think it would benefit small charities that don’t receive much funding also the inheritance my husband was left from his parents has been used to help fund a veterans shelter as we didn’t need it and we wanted to put it to good use to make a difference although my sister in law didn’t see it that way she wanted us to let her have it all if we didn’t need it but that’s not how it works we chose to donate it to a good cause not to make her and her greedy family richer, it took the best part of two years for the inheritance to be sorted ,some are straightforward and others can take years sadly this too 2 years to be completed due to issues.

i once inherited from my granny

I have no experience of an inheritance.

Have you spoken to your loved ones about what inheritance you plan to leave to them? Not in detail but they know where the will is kept.
If you haven’t, is there a particular reason why? It upsets them so we joke about things instead.
Are you expecting to receive an inheritance? No not expecting
Do you know how long it takes to receive your inheritance? No but the wheels for anything always grind slowly don’t they?
Do you know if you will be liable for an inheritance tax bill? Possibly given how much is wasted the government need to grab every penny they can don’t they? (No matter who is in power)
What would you do if you are faced with an inheritance tax bill – this is 40% of the overall estate? Do some sums.
Have you ever wanted to dispute who benefited from a will? No

I would like to arrange and pay for my own funeral. Only have one child so all to her.

My experience of dealing with my mothers estate was relatively straightforward . However my sister inlaw was very difficult; her feelings creating a family rift which continues to date. For these reasons I have made a will ( through Goodwill , a really easy process) so that my wishes are clear. Covid made this seem to be more of a necessity but it was hard initially to speak to my family about it . We are now clear what I want to happen and it seems to have been a relief to my family that I have done this . I think its really important to make your wishes clear. Dealing with loss is stressful enough without added anxieties related to inheritance. Please think about making a will, if you haven't and letting your family know what you want to happen in the event of your death.

I suppose I've just inherited half a house, as my Dad died last year and under the terms of his will half of my parent's home came to me. Of course, my Mum is still living in it, and I hope she will do so for a very long time!
Although Dad's will was straightforward, probate has taken such a long time, and it seems an unnecessarily expensive and time consuming process.

My parents are both passed away. Mum died first and left a will leaving money to me, my brother and my 2 children. My brother didn’t have children at that time. I felt the will was a little unfair to my brother as his wife was expecting a baby when mum died and I knew she would have changed her will once the baby was born. I sought legal advice and was advised as executor I could give my brother extra so I did!
My father died 12 years later with a will with everything left equally between my brother and I. Both times I did the probate myself.
My husband and I have wills in place and so do our children.

I have only inherited once. It was on the death of my mother and the sale of her bungalow. My brother, sister and I had an equal share of the sale. They used it wisely. I didn't and it has been a source of regret ever since.

I inherited a share of my father's estate 30 years ago,with 4 siblings it wasnt a huge amount, but did help me with a house move. I have made a will splitting any estate between my own children. it wont be a huge amount. I have briefly mentioned it to the daughter who is appointed as my executor.

persister I so agree about making wills - and making them young. My sister was killed in a car accident in her mid 40s and hadn't made a will, so the rules of intestacy applied. Our parents were still alive and, as she was unmarried and childless they were dealing with it and would have got most of it - which they didn't want.

Fortunately the only other beneficiaries were me and my second sister and we happily agreed a Deed of Arrangement to distribute the money differently, but this is the problem with intestacy, if you do not like the way intestacy distributes the estate, it only takes one benefiary to play awkward, for a prefered distribution to be knocked out of court.

I've made a will but worry that the stepchildren who want nothing to do with us will come out of the woodwork and claim 'their' share.

We inherited a sum of money from my DHs father and put it into the house - converted the loft and extended the downstairs.

We have made wills and taking advice from our financial advisor we have an insurance policy which will cover the inheritance tax on our home which constitutes the bulk of our estate. Our children will inherit jointly but with the proviso that our daughter can live in the house for as long as she wants. we are considering leaving it to her out right.

I expect to receive a small inheritance when my parents pass. I haven't spoken about it myself to my kids. It's just not something I like to talk about.

Firstly, a friend’s husband was told he had only two weeks to live. They had no will, so this was quickly organised with a DIY one. The husband did all the household finance and she had no idea on anything. So my advice is to plan for someone passing away and make sure you are both competent to handle everything.

Secondly, my mother passed away nearly 20 years after my father. The house was sold on my father’s death and mum had to go into sheltered accommodation, then a care home for her last seven years. Mum’s social care costs consumed our potential inheritance. This was a very different situation from my aunt who received nursing care at home for several years and never paid a penny towards her care costs, so her children inherited money and a house.

My advise is to plan ahead, seek professional guidance on wills, trust wills and POA to protect your wishes and minimise social care costs and inheritance tax liability. Also, organise and document as much as you can to make it easier for those you leave behind.

My parents left a will so that made things so much easier. My brother and me were executors but he didn’t want to do anything so I arranged Probate. I did everything meticulous to the will and kept exact records. It took almost 2 years due to selling a house. For some reason me and my husband haven’t done wills but must do soon.

Have you spoken to your loved ones about what inheritance you plan to leave to them? Yes, I discussed my Will with both children at the time of writing it and they have copies. They also have joint Power of Attorney. It never occurred to me not to do this. We have a good and very open relationship.
Are you expecting to receive an inheritance? No.
What would you do if you are faced with an inheritance tax bill? Doesn't apply.
Have you ever wanted to dispute who benefited from a will? I haven't. However, my sister tried to pressure me into challenging our mother's will. She had written this in the final weeks of her life. My brother was the sole witness and sole beneficiary. I respected her wishes.

Just over a year ago I received an inheritance from my sisters will. She had left money to all of my 6 grandchildren and my 3 children and my DH, but the bulk of her estate came to me though. Her house had been sold about a year previously to fund her care in a home but she only lived for a year after going there. It took roughly a year for everything to be settled. It was nice to be left the money but it has made me feel rather uncomfortable that I have benefited from her death. The family all know much I received. We moved to a smaller property recently so a little has been used for the new home, but the majority will probably end up going to the family eventually. We have made wills and the family all know “who gets what”. I do think it is important that the family all know our financial situation

Yes , we should all make decisions about financial things but to my mind far more importantly there are personal decisions that need to be addressed , particularly as these days many couples choose not to get married. My son and his partner have a little boy. They are happy together and pre covid I was able to see a lot of them and my grandson. My son does a lot of driving in his job. so although he is in quite good health if the worst happened and he was killed in an accident, I would have no legal right to be part of my grandsons life , nor have any say in where he lived or whether he could visit me etc etc. I get on well with his partner and have no real worries about it at the moment but suppose she were to move or marry or whatever I have no rights. Should they both be killed I would expect her sister to take my grandson. At the age of 75 I realize I would not be the best place for him but again what contact would I have with him in that case.? I am a lecturer and teacher and whilst I have no problem with computers as such I do think reading together , swimming and walking especially in the countryside and having conversations , not permanently staring at a phone ,matters. So I have asked my son to put something in his will to try to ensure that I will remain part of my grandsons life. Then on the financial side , again a lot of young people think it is just the same if they are married or not and assume if their partner dies they will inherit etc and get a shock when they find out that is not the case. With so many mixed families these days with step children or children from a previous marriage from either or both of the partners it is vital that both a will and a power of attorney are done properly. I do not like the state making unnecessary laws but I would like to see everyone required to make a will at the age of 18 . At that time it will be very simple usually but can also state the persons wishes in donating organs, what kind of a funeral they would like and messages to loved ones. This would at least help with the dreadful time when someone has died, and you realize you have no idea what they believed or wanted. Then once you have a will you are more likely to carry on upgrading it at least. Finally I have a son and a stepdaughter . My husband and I did simple wills that whoever survived was to inherit everything and when the survivor died it was to be split equally between the two children. we told them what we had done and did power of attorney too , as I know from a friends situation the hassle and expense if the court of protection are involved and it is a nightmare. We also told them that we were not leaving set amounts for their children but would expect them to put some thing aside for each child from their share. Again this is easier to arrange and less expensive to organise and if in the future they have more children, or split up and maybe lose touch with a child , for example if they were taken abroad or the other parent took them away and they could not find them. Then you do not have the stupid situation where money sticks in some account and is never claimed and in the meantime is going down in value and may end up with the state in the future. Another thing my husband and I did was to write a letter stating what we would like given to specific friends and family, which were not necessarily of great monetary value , but meant a lot to that person, So , I am a galanthophile - snowdrops to you and have a collection of over 50 different and more rare ones. I wanted some of those to go to gardening friends who would enjoy them and know how to take care of them. A picture to go to a friend who admired it, My collection of cloud glass to another collector and so on. It is easy to rewrite and rip up the old one as and when things change, probably has no legal validity, but as it was to be opened by either my husband or in case of both our deaths my son would have opened it . It gives me satisfaction to know I have disposed of my things as I wish and saved my son from trying to work out what to do or throwing treasured things away. Finally I would urge everyone to go to a qualified solicitor to get their will drawn up. These wills that you draw up yourself are only any good if you have no relatives and just want it all to go to a charity or whatever. If you have family especially a mixed kind of family as above there are so many pitfalls and you can end up not getting it right and your wishes not being followed. Well I am a reasonably intelligent person who has made my own choices in life - not always good ones - I would be furious with myself if I thought by not making a will my assets were going to end up going to the government , or to a person I did not want them to go to . I have paid enough taxes over the years . If you make a watertight will you can leave everything to whoever you want to, so if you have friends who have been more of a family to you than relations then you can leave it to them. Yes , I intend to have the last word as far as my things are concerned . I suggest you all do the same!!!

I wont have anything to leave so it wont cause any problems. I don`t feel guilty about this as life/divorce etc means own a house later in life was not possible. My funeral is paid for other than that all I will leave is memories - hopefully nice ones.

I have a Trust |Inheritance to make sure my disabled daughter is taken care of,

No inheritance received. Have not directly spoke about what we will left

I had the good fortune of being born into a family with three parents: my birth parents, plus my birth-mother's best friend, who'd already been living with them (long story) before I was born. I needed that good fortune, because my family thinned out early on: my birth-mother died when I was 8, and my birth-father (never really interested in his children; benign neglect), who was happy to let the "lodger" (whom I regard as my "true mother") raise my brother and I, himself died when I was 13. When that happened, my "true mother" continued to be a parent in the same capacity as before (that is, 100%), but, legally, she became our "guardian" and we became not just her children, but children of a modest family estate. I would never get to spend this inheritance myself (exhausted before I turned 20), but it was a big part of my life; being drawn upon to cover 50% of raising us (my mother took on the other 50%, by choice), I remember repeatedly going to court, where she would have to justify her spending to a judge, periodically. Since she died, 1 1/2 years ago, my brother and I are STILL dealing with her (very impoverished) estate. However - as if the nature of our family was not exceptional enough, on its own - all of our business transits an ocean & an international border, as - while I live in the UK now - my brother & I were born & raised in Canada. It's tricky. Our latest challenge is getting a document approved, where a lawyer would witness it. Under Scots Law, the certifying lawyer must initial a hand-written declaration. Under Canadian &/or Québec law (similar to Scotland, outside of criminal law, Québec has a separate legal system... & the estate is split between there & another province), it requires an official stamp or seal, not used in Scotland. Already, an estate is a sobering reality, taken on at a time when one is most emotional, & these international complications are the icing on the cake! SERIOUSLY, if anyone out there has experience in reconciling UK & Canadian law (IDEALLY, Scots Law & the Québec Civil Code!), I would be appreciative of any help they might be able to provide: da_outaouais [at] yahoo.co.uk

My mother left everything (her flat and small amount of money) equally to my brother and myself. We used her solicitor as executor and it was straightforward. The flat wouldn't sell, so we tried renting it out and sharing the income. That didn't really work, as the agent proved useless and I ended up doing all the admin. Eventually, I bought my brother out and now own and use the flat. A good outcome.