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I have no experience of inheritance & am interested to read the experience of others. The only slightly related experience I have is that a friend left me a legacy in her Will, & the Will was subsequently disputed by her estranged daughter. My friend's daughter had refused to have anything to do with her for as long as I had known her & it is something which caused her a lot of pain. It's obviously something she had discussed with her solicitor prior to her passing, as the challenge to the Will was not successful.

Having worked as a solicitor I have had experience of the mess and grief that can result when someone dies without a will.

No-one enjoys thinking about their own death, but you do need to make a Will if you have family or friends (or good causes) that you love —- it’s quick to do, doesn’t cost much and will avoid so many sad times (and potentially financial loss) for them.

I used to tell clients “just do it and then foil ‘em all by living to 120!” —- damn, now I’ve given away my secret plan. Sorry, kids!

We have inherited from my inlaws, since the pandemic putting affairs in order has been a priority, our daughter will inherit everything we have with a percentage going to charity.

i have no experience, my parents both unfortunately have no equity in the form of a house only some minor savings and insurance policies.

I haven't inherited anything except for £100 from my grandfather.
I have a will - my children don't know the contents - but it needs amending in any case as I recently separated from my husband.

We've already put in place new wills whereby whichever one of us dies first, their half of the house goes to our son with the other one of us being able to live in it.

Do tell your family what is going to happen when you die, especially if you have re married, plenty of families have really bad relationships because dad or mum has a new partner
Only give away what you can afford don’t put your own security in jeopardy.

Never had any inheritence or likely too either lol we dont have much money in our family

Yes I have made a will but it probably needs updating, as does my husband’s, as he has acquired a share of another property.
I inherited a decent sum of money from my parents most unexpectedly as we didn’t think they had much money and their house needed a lot doing to it. Since then, I have managed to save double that amount. It took about 6 months from the second death to receive payment.
We did Enduring Power of attorney some time ago but probably need to do the more up to date LPA.
There should not be any IHT to pay, but with us each having children from previous marriages, our estates will be rather complex and may take time. One problem will be that the children of the first to die will have to wait for their stepparent to die to inherit their half of the proceeds of the property. I have e informed my children briefly but I don’t know how much my husband has said to his. One of them is vulnerable and is on benefits so there could be problems there.

I had to resolve my parent's estate as neither left a will. At a painful time its the last thing you need - I would have appreciated a list of what they wanted to happen and would have happily followed it. I've made a will. I think especially if you have kids, leave a will. Families are bereft at this time, they dont need the hassle of trying to sort out your finances too,

My Dad died in 1999 and my mum thinking it was her turn next prepared everything. She was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2016 and as I had started to see a decline in her before her diagnosis I prepared Powers of Attorney with myself and sons as Attorneys. . She had a large metal box under her bed which had everything in it which I would need in the event of her death. I prepared her funeral and pre paid for that and as her wishes were clear, arranged all the details including the hymns. Her Will was there too. I had to make a decision on her health when she was admitted to Hospital and as much as it was awful at the time it was in her best interest. She left her property in equal shares for my brother and myself and some cash in the Bank for me and some inheritances for 3 of the 4 grandchildren, so I made sure the 4th had the same. I completed the Grant of Probate and drove to the office to register it myself and it was a reasonably quick process. Now I have made my own Powers of Attorney and Will. I will hopefully leave an inheritance for my children and it will probably be over the threshold if it stays the same as it is now but I plan to look into that. As I have had a nasty illness I felt that I needed to do these things.

The road to an inheritance is usually a bumpy one - I think inheritances cause disagreements between family members.

My mum left my sister and I a little money when she died. My husband has also been left money from a half brother who died having had no family of his own. I have written my will as has my husband. Our children will benefit.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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!!!

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.