Legal Advice - Inheritance situation (1 Viewer)

[Not-That-Bright]

Recently my great grandmother has passed away... in her will it states that all her money is supposed to go half to her son, and have to her deceased son's children...

Anyway, before her death she was worried so she took all her money out of the estate and gave it in trust to her living son... he has since turned around and only offered to give small portions of what everyone is entitled to..

As far as I know we haven't got a leg to stand on.

 

[MoonlightSonata]

Re: Help! - The kind of situation you always fear when someone dies....

Who are the beneficiaries of the trust?

 

[Not-That-Bright]

Re: Help! - The kind of situation you always fear when someone dies....

Ar the beneficiaries should be the same as the will, however this was not presented in writing... and he claims she just before her death gave it to him.

 

[BillytheFIsh]

Re: Help! - The kind of situation you always fear when someone dies....

You may have a leg... it could get messy. These things are never pretty.

How did she grant the property in trust to the son?

Depending on the type of property there are various requirements of writing to effect a valid transfer.

It gets quite complicated but if there was no valid assignment of the property then it still rests in the estate which would be administed under the will.

There could also be capacity/undue influence issues.

Depending on the amounts in question I'd suggest your family consult a lawyer.

 

[Not-That-Bright]

Re: Help! - The kind of situation you always fear when someone dies....

The property was sold and converted into money. That money would be in the estate, but she gave it in trust (however we have nothing in writing about this...) to him before her death. The will says we get 50% of the money in the estate, he has all the money already... we get nothing.

We've consulted a lawyer, he said this sort of thing happens very often and it's often the relative whom didn't know the deceased person as well... he said we essentially have no leg to stand on and any case would be pointless. My uncles have each seen different lawyers.. whom have said different things, however some bluffing has made him offer some money in return for us to promise not to pursuit him any more (perhaps he's calculated the legal costs and is just offering that... or feels bad for what an arsehole he's been.. who knows?).

It is significant ammounts in question.... X00,000 + of which 50% was supposed to go to 4 of her grandchildren - they've recieved nothing.

 

[neo o]

Re: Help! - The kind of situation you always fear when someone dies....

some bluffing has made him offer some money in return for us to promise not to pursuit him any more (perhaps he's calculated the legal costs and is just offering that... or feels bad for what an arsehole he's been.. who knows?).

You know, agreeing not to pursue legal action is good consideration to form the basis of a contract. I don't think any of us could really add anything to what you've heard from those lawyers though.

 

[MoonlightSonata]

Re: Help! - The kind of situation you always fear when someone dies....

The property was sold and converted into money. That money would be in the estate, but she gave it in trust (however we have nothing in writing about this...) to him before her death. The will says we get 50% of the money in the estate, he has all the money already... we get nothing.

She gave it on trust to him, for the beneficiaries under the will?

If so, the problem is proving that it was not a gift to him, rather that it was on trust?

 

[Not-That-Bright]

Re: Help! - The kind of situation you always fear when someone dies....

The problem is proving that she definately gave it to him in trust, for the beneficiaries under the will... and not that she simply decided before her death to give it to him or whatever. I suppose we could argue that just before her death she was in no condition to be giving out money or whatever, however he is the manager of the retirement home where she was staying... so any assessment would probably have more weight from him.

 

[MoonlightSonata]

Re: Help! - The kind of situation you always fear when someone dies....

How do you know that she gave it to him on trust -- were your family members there?

 

[Not-That-Bright]

Re: Help! - The kind of situation you always fear when someone dies....

He has admitted over the phone that half of the money was supposed to go to us... unfortunately we could not record it. It would also be extremely odd for her to give all her money to him, however it is possible given the state she was in... drugged up on morphine etc.

I wonder if someone taking such serious doses of morphine as she was, would be considered fit enough to be able to give her money to someone?

 

[MoonlightSonata]

Re: Help! - The kind of situation you always fear when someone dies....

How did she assign the money to him?

 

[Not-That-Bright]

Re: Help! - The kind of situation you always fear when someone dies....

My guess would be some sort of bank transfer? Or perhaps just a cheque? I'll find out exactly this arvo...