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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.

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 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.

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.

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

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 have no experience of an inheritance.

i once inherited from my granny

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.

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.

My mum owned her own home and made out a will giving life interest to her partner to ensure he could carry on living in her house if she died first. However she left her estate in equal shares to me and my 4 siblings. Dementia set in and unbeknown to us her partner took her to another solicitor to change her will. We only found out after she died therefore everything went to her elderly partner who has no children of his own but he has left everything to nieces and nephews that he hasn't seen for many years.

I've never inherited anything and don't expect to. We will leave our estate to our children but it is unlikely to be over the IHT threshold.

I have inherited from my parents, but as the value of their estate was very low, no money was paid. I will be leaving any money to my daughter, but it is unlikely to be above the inheritance tax threshold, unless I have a big win on the lottery! Wills have been written in both cases.

Although, we previously hadn't had much experience of this, since the pandemic putting out finances in order has been a priority

We're sorted. We're not expecting any inheritances, our wills are written, our children know who the executors are and that they'll have an equal share of what we leave, they're all financially secure so won't be desperate to get hold of it, and unless we come up on the lotto or the premium bonds, they won't have to worry about inheritance tax. We're a very uncomplicated family!

I have POA and am also executor for a great aunt. Same for both my parents, though jointly with siblings. I feel very daunted by the whole thing, not least as there is a foreign property involved. I dread needing to act for them all at the same time!

We have made mirror wills and POA. These were done after we had retired, some years ago now.
Our 3 children will be equal beneficiaries, and can do with the proceeds, what they will. They are also all named on the POA.

When my FIL died, my DH inherited a third of his estate.
After my mother died, my brother and I inherited such as there was, and it was easy to sort out.

I inherited a small sum when my uncle died.
Also DH had an unexpected small sum from a distant cousin, after being contacted by a company of 'Heir Hunters'.

There was no difficulty in talking about what we had done in regards to our wills with the children.

At the tail end of sorting my Mum’s estate after 15 months, it’s been through probate. We engaged solicitors as there were bonds/ISA’s/ life insurances. Inheritance tax was paid, but we may be claiming some back as it was paid within the HMRC time limit, but at an assumed rate on sale of shares. Myself, two siblings and GC’s have received financial inheritance. My DH and I have wills leaving to each other, on the death of the remaining person, the estate is split equally between my two children. We both have POA and advance decisions, funerals are prepaid.
Both children know what we’ve done.

Have you spoken to your loved ones about what inheritance you plan to leave to them?
Yes
Are you expecting to receive an inheritance?
Yes
Do you know how long it takes to receive your inheritance?
*Yes, roughly - but there is currently a house involved.
Do you know if you will be liable for an inheritance tax bill?
Yes - I know that there won't be one
What would you do if you are faced with an inheritance tax bill – this is 40% of the overall estate?
n/a
Have you ever wanted to dispute who benefited from a will?
Yes, but would not do this out of respect for the deceased

We have spoken about inheritance and after sorting out a needlessly complicated relative's inheritance wishes, I have made a will and set up a POA in case it is needed later on.

we are in the motions of sorting our Mums out right now, all sorted properly thankfully.

I don’t talk about inheritance, it is awkward and leads to bad feelings. My family will get what I leave them. It will always be an even split to my children. How they choose to use it will be up to them.

No amounts in our immediate family will be do large as to need complex estate planning. Houses are the biggest asset and will be sold and profits split.