Scooby Soon!

Has anyone experience of people fighting over money and houses that have been left for them in Will's?

I have been left a house by my dad in his will, (my mum has already died) everything is left to me and there are no other names mentioned in the will.

My sister who has been missing for the last 10 or 15 years (didnt attend either funeral) she has suddenly turned up and wants half, is there any way she would have any legal claim on any of the estate?

We don't get on and she didn't get on with either my mum or dad hence the reason she was not listed in the will (I also gave my mum and dad 90% of the money to buy the house a few years back) she gave didderly squat and only took or borrowed money from everyone.

Has anyone experiance of this?

Wish

iTrader: (2)

Keep your head down dont let it get to you. Rise above her.
What goes around, comes around as she's finding out.

paul-s

I shouldnt think so, what does your solicitor say?

Stephb1986

she could contest the will but really if she's been dissapeard for the last 10-15 years she could possibly have no rights

sorry to hear of your loss my thoughts are with you

Jamo

iTrader: (23)

do you have proof of the 90% you added to the house? if so she could only have claim to 50% of the 10% actually left to you by your parents.

sorry for your loss

firesorter

Hi, sorry about your loss.
i had the same situation with my ***** of a brother, if your sister feels she is entitled to anything she will need to get a solicitor involved, as long as the will states its yours then it is, as the last wish of your father. for the best advice and preace of mind speak to the solicitor who executed the will.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

10 or 15 years is a bit vague, you need to get your facts straight, last contact you had off her, last photo you can lay your hands on.

You need proof of what you put into it, it will help but if you gifted it, its not a guarantee.

Cant you throw her a few grand to go back to whence she came ?

miff13

You need to speak to a solicitor who deals with contentious probate, any reasonably big firm should have one and you should be able to get an initial half hour appointment free of charge. Be very careful what you say to your sister and I don't think giving her a few grand to go away is a good idea, you may be acknowledging that she has a claim.

Sorry for your loss and good luck.

marmski

Sorry to hear about this... I lost my father 2 years ago and i couldnt describe the pain.

If the Will is present then it is considered and actioned as of more importance than next of kin rights.

Get a good solicitor, and my thoughts are with you.

Ant

Leslie

Surely if your father specifically left it all to you in the will then she can't have a claim as long as he was in sound mind and was not coerced in any way. Especially under the circumstances that you describe.

Les

Mark Miwurdz

As you've described the situation, she hasn't got a leg to stand on.

Do not enter into a debate about it, do not tell her to seek legal assistance, have absolutely nothing to do with her and under no circumstances offer her anything. Don't even tell her to get stretched which must be mighty tempting right now.

Best of luck and please let us know how you get on.

Cheers
Kav

Seamaster

Family and money !!! tell me about it. I got involded in a million pound Family dispute (i could give a toss and didnt want a penny) nothing worse than the smell of death and money. she could make some problems by "contesting" it and this could delay you getting the house. She might suggest you "pay her off". mind you , you could always attend another funeral.....?? !!

Scooby Soon!

Thanks for kind words and advice,

The will was made over 10 years ago so it wasn't a last minute change of anything. I'm not desperate to sell the house and I don't need the money I was originally planning to give her £10k out of my own pocket just for her to have something, but I know that she will have spent it in 1 week and be back for more

I have got a solicitor dealing with the probate etc but this has only come to light today when I received a text mesaage from her saying that she wants a copy of the will and is going to take a loan out on the house to stop me selling it?

Shes completly fruit loop and I dont even let her have my home phone number because of some of the things she has got involved in. I think shes been waiting for him to die and almost counting her half of the money until shes just found out shes not getting anything. I will burn it down tonight and have nothing rather than give her a penny, my Mum and Dad had banned her from there house after she turned up with a couple of druggies who pinched some valuables that were laying around.

Be warned death + Money = Big arguments

There is happy ending though, although I miss my dad every minute of the day he is now hopefully with my mum "up there somewhere" which is what he has wanted for the last 2 years

Maz

iTrader: (34)

Condolences on the death of your father. You are so right death and money do cause problems but you are in the right not her. Just on the basis of fairness and principle she deserves sweet f.a and I wholly understand your stance about burning it before giving her a penny. You were there for your parents she wasn't, fight her tooth and nail mate.

Smiler

Speak to a solicitor.

It would of helped had she been left £1. At least she would of been left something, and legally would have no were to go.

She can't take a loan out on the house as she doesn't own it. However, what she can do is register an interest in it which will stop you selling it.

Seamaster

Another funeral???

Scooby Snacks 23

Sadly, one of my jobs is dealing with the death in service benefits for our employees. With around 9K employees, statistics say that 1 in a 1000 in the workplace will die, so I do a few claims a year.

The worst thing about dealing with these claims is that families become exceptionally greedy when they know there's money about. It's quite callous sometimes and the arguments and fights I have seen or indeed been involved in when two family members are arguing is nothing short of

It's important that we all keep our Wills up to date to at least illustrate where we would like our possessions to go (in the case of death in service benefits linked to your employment, make sure you also complete a Nomination of Beneficiary form or equivalent )

In respect of the originla post from Scooby Soon, I am very sad for your loss but think it's unlikely your looney sister will get anywhere. Try not to let her actions (or threatened actions) get you down.

Chin up

LG John

What a rat - comes out the woodwork to try and get some money despite contributing nothing to the family for years. I hate people like that.

sbk1972

I cant comment on the money / sister issue as my brother and I are very close, and when my father died, and I was the executor of the will, I saw everything as `ours` together. Filling in the various probate forms, then breaking down what he owned, and monies, well certainly werent `happy days`.

All I can say is that Im sorry to hear about your loss, and that time is a great healer. Not only did I loose a father, I lost a good friend, but seeing the pain my old boy went through on the finally days, Im glad he finally went.

Sounds like you had a good relationship with your old chap, so just remember the good times and feel happy that you had a good father.

Best of luck with the out come.

SBK

SJ_Skyline

What an awful time for you. Hope it works out in the end.

One thing to note is that probate can go on for months so I would consider the long term security of the property and its contents.

urban

iTrader: (1)

Yeah unfortunately.

I had a very similar problem as you about 1.5 years ago. Was because of my sister too!

My Mum died, then my Dad went exactly 4 weeks later.

My dad made a will, left me & 1 brother house plus some money.
Left some money to sister & other brother.

She went daft, started saying that me & brother corrupted Dads mind, making him leave the other 2 out blah blah blah.
She got a solicitor involved, tried to contest the will etc, failed miserably I can gladly say.
Some of the things she said were unreal, I've don't speak to her anymore, give her a card at xmas, but thats it.
She used to look after my little girl after school, but I stopped all that after all the crap I took from her.

My other brother died 5 months after,m and it was the same **** all over again - some of the things she then said were unreal, and so abusive that I hit her the biggest smack on the jaw with the back of my hand.
(She accused me & brother of killing other brother).
I live about 40 miles away!

Its always the same when someone goes, if there's money then all the **** start hovering around like vultures to see what pickings are there for them!

So long as your Dad was of sound mind then she doesn't have any ground whatsoever.

Good luck, hope it all works out for you which I've no doubt it will.

Shaun

Gear Head

iTrader: (2)

Sorry to hear of your loss m8y.

Had a similar situation arise 15 months ago when my dad had a stroke. It left him dissabled and unable to communicate properly.
He owned his own fork lift truck hire/sale/service/repair company which I had been working for, for 2 years prior to his stroke.
Unfortunately, my dad left no 'enduring power of attorny', so my mum had to apply for guardianship ( receiver of dads affairs ), so she was able to continue running the business.

My step brother (dads previous marrage) had other ideas (no involvment so far in the business). He thought that he should be earning a wage from the company, even though he had never worked for us, and is a decorator by trade. He wanted control of everything, and due to my parents not really getting on (who doesn't have their arguements?) before the stroke, he wanted my mum to leave dad and move on, leaving the door open for him.
It got quite violent and we had to get the police involved.

I basically told him that if he wanted to contest the guardianship request, go ahead.
One year later, we have guardianship, dads getting better (although will never work again) and I havn't spoken to my brother properly for 10 months.

Basically, keep your head down, do what you think is best, document EVERYTHING, including every conversation you have with your sistor.
The courts see this sort of thing everyday, so don't let her bully you into a corner.

Your dad left it TO YOU, and he did that for a very good reason.

mark engers

Have the greedy skank offed.

Shark Man

Been there when my dad died, and luckily nobody came out the woodwork. But even dealing with the estate in itself is a daunting, menatally and physically draining task. Especially when it came to trying to sort out the business. Even after the best part of a year with a realitively simple esate, it is still not totally resolved.

All I can say about Scooby-soon's problem, is that the executor has a legal obligation to ensure that the wishes of his dad are carried out as set out in the will. The fact there is a will and it clearly states as to who is entitled to what is pretty much set in stone. There are some cases where if there was a dependant person involved not mentioned on the will, but this would not be the case in this circumstance (she is not a dependant). All I can say is get good solicitor advice and restrict all verbal dialogue between your sister, using only letters to convey your correspondance (of which are worded not to implicate you - which your solicitor will help), the reason as such is that all diaglogue can be kept for reference, on the record, so to speak.

As a footnote, I'd also consider securing your father's property in some form, certainly of any valuables with sentimental value. And ask neighbours to keep an eye out on who visits the property. Seeing that you mention that she has stolen stuff previously, added the usual problem of houses being targeted by scallies that read the obituraries in the their local paper (sad fact of life).


Losing a loved one is bad enough, the last thing anyone needs is a golddigger after something which is not entitled to them - just on principal. I hope you manage to get it sorted without too much hassle.

DCI Gene Hunt

Parents!

When will they ever feckin learn!?!

Either spend it enjoying life, split the estate equally between ALL children or leave it all to a feckin dogs home

The biggest cause of family fights is greed, and one's perception of 'what I should get' as well as 'she/he's getting more'........ and you'll all do it at some point in the future, as no doubt will I.....

sbk1972

DCI, your so right.

The best option is to gift it 7 years before your death. Or that pseudo brother gets most of it, aka the robbing phucking *******s called the Gov, via death duties.

Now that is a crime. You work for money, it gets taxed. You died, it gets taxed again. How can this law still be used in this modern world. !!!!

SBK

Shark Man

Funny, when I initially read the thread title I thought that this thread was about inheritance tax.

And yes, my opinion is identical.

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

Got the date penciled in?

sbk1972

:-) hahaha no, i havent but you get my point.


SBK

Scooby Soon!

UPDATE:

I have spoken to my solicitor today and he has said that it would be impossible for her to contest the will. Even if she did she would get nowhere.

I have secured the house, put the heating on low, left a few lights on and told the neighbours to keep there eyes peeled. I have cleared out all the junk in to a skip, which is now full. Any valuables are now locked away elsewhere.

Thanks for the posts glad to here I'm not the only one in this boat!

Warning to others, be PREPARED!!!