Inheritance question.....

[TTmonkey]

Some advice please. Scenario....

Elsie, Old lady, grandmother, has two daughters:

Belinda (eldest) and Barbara (youngest)

They both have a daughter

Susan, daughter of Belinda. and Maggie, daughter of Barbara.

Elsie has a will, and names Belinda and Barbara as heirs.

Tragically, Belinda, eldest daughter, dies suddenly.
A few months later, Elsie dies.

The will hasn’t been changed.

Does Barbara automatically inherit everything left by Elsie? Does Belinda's daughter Susan automatically get nothing?

Thanks in advance.

[TTmonkey]

Kagee said:

No. The children will inherit their deceased parents share.

So it all goes to Barbara....? It would make sense to me, just need to make sure.

[TTmonkey]

redjohn said:

In most cases yes unless the will covers the scenario (a good will should) and allows it to pass to grandchild

Well in one of the last memorable conversations with her mother Belinda, Susan (my wife) was told that Elsie had decided to leave everything to her two granddaughters. However looks like the will was never rewritten.

Belinda had spent the last 15 years looking after Elsie, whilst Barbara spent her time travelling the world and spending a lot of money that she had previously got from insurance payouts enjoying life. Belinda died of a heart attack with no warning. I believe she died of stress and strain from looking after her own bedridden husband and her mother who was in her 90’s.

So Barbara inherits £700,000 and a detached house, whilst my wife Susan recieved nothing, either from her grandmother or from her own mother, as she left nothing of value.

But just wanted to check that there was no carry forward of anything given belindas death months before her mother’s.

[TTmonkey]

Also to add, we’ve never seen the will, so don’t know of how it was specifically set out.

The death happened about 6 months ago and we’ve heard nothing about it in terms of what was left.

[TTmonkey]

bladebloke said:

OP - you’re talking about at least £400,000 at stake, and you’re asking random strangers on the internet for the answer. Think about that for a minute, then go book an appointment for your wife to see a solicitor.

Yes you are correct. The reason why I’m asking is to find out if that’s the right course of action, or not. If everyone said ‘no your wife has no case’ then I would know that this would be pointless.

Food for thought.

[TTmonkey]

Thanks all for advice so far. I’ve orderred the will from the probate service to at least see what it says.

[TTmonkey]

bladebloke said:

TTmonkey said:

Yes you are correct. The reason why I’m asking is to find out if that’s the right course of action, or not. If everyone said ‘no your wife has no case’ then I would know that this would be pointless.

Food for thought.

The point is that you want a qualified person, who can ask you all the relevant questions (and who carries appropriate insurance) to be the one telling you what routes forward there might be (or not be).

BTW, I should think that the correct answer is probably, at high level, “it depends what the will says”. But the professional you see would be able to tell you if that’s right or wrong, how you might be able to get a copy of the will (if probable hasn’t already been granted - if it has, its a public document and easy to obtain) and, if it doesn’t say what you’d like it to, if there’s any avenue for contesting it (or if there perhaps any options available other than contesting the will).

Presumably if you can afford to write off the possibility of receiving hundreds of thousands of pounds, you can afford to spend a few hundred quid on legal fees to find out if your wife has any right to that money.

Edited by bladebloke on Tuesday 15th January 06:31

The will was registered with Probate office in December. I've ordered a copy.

When we get it, I'll decide whether to take further action based on how cut and dried the instructions are.

[TTmonkey]

SO another question for anyone whose dealt with a will recently...

How long once a will is registered with probate office until it gets dealt with - ie, moneys distributed etc? Or is it the other way around?

[TTmonkey]

RichB said:

Just to add that when I acted as executor for my mother I distributed small gifts and bequests at the wake following the funeral e.g. she requested her engagement ring and eternity ring plus a few bits of other jewellery to go to her female grandchildren plus there were some monetary bequests up to a few thousand where I wanted to personally hand across cheques to give it a personal touch. I then waited until her bungalow was sold before distributing the bulk of the assets. As there is a house sale in your situation you may find that nothing will be done until that is sold. p.s. The executor will have had to have got a valuation from an estate agent in order to get probate.

The complication though is that you knew the house needed to be sold, because of multiple beneficiaries in the will. If the old ladies will specifically excludes everyone except her lone surviving daughter Barbara, Babs doesn't have to sell the house....


I highly suspect that this is the case, I've not seen the house listed for sale and it was all locked up last time I past it. I suspect its all done and dusted, and that Barbara is the only named beneficiary and the money is now funding her rather extravagant lifestyle.

My mother in laws side of the family tree wont be seeing a penny. When I get a copy of the will I think this will be obvious. Maybe just grasping at straws.


What really, really grates here is that the old lady had lots of money, but her daughter (my mother in law) had nothing, and even ended up selling every piece of jewellery that she had owned recently, before her death. The only thing my wife has left are memories, photos and regrets.

Why didn't the old lady distribute her wealth long before she died? I guess its that part of being from that generation? I'd rather see people smile when they receive my money at the end of my life than them get it when they are in mourning. Perhaps I'll feel differently in 35 years time....?

[TTmonkey]

Pro Bono said:

The key piece of law here is Section 33(1) of the Wills Act 1837. This provides that:

Where a will contains a gift to a child of the testator; and

the child dies before the testator, leaving a child of their own (the testator’s grandchild); and

that grandchild is still living at the testator’s death,

then, unless a contrary intention appears by the Will the gift will take effect as a gift to the grandchild living at the testator’s death.

In your case, Elsie left her estate to Barbara and Belinda.

Belinda died, leaving a daughter, Susan.

Elsie then dies, while Susan is still alive.

Section 33 says that Susan inherits her mother’s share unless the Will says otherwise.

It is possible to exclude Section 33 in a Will, and I’ve occasionally done so, generally where the testator has fallen out with a grandchild, but it’s very rare, and I would be extremely surprised if Elsie’s Will contained such a provision.

Consequently (although you can’t be 100% sure until you’ve seen the copy Will) Susan should inherit half the estate.

I’m surprised that you haven’t been kept informed by the executors. Who are they? Is the estate being dealt with by solicitors? Normally the solicitors contact the beneficiaries fairly soon after the death, and I can’t understand how your wife has been left in this situation.

Thanks for that. we wait for the will....

There has been no falling out whatsoever. however, the old lady was very controlling and had certain views that would lead me to believe that she would stipulate a succession order in her will, if you see what I mean.

[TTmonkey]

Piersman2 said:

Pro Bono said:

I’m surprised that you haven’t been kept informed by the executors. Who are they? Is the estate being dealt with by solicitors? Normally the solicitors contact the beneficiaries fairly soon after the death, and I can’t understand how your wife has been left in this situation.

Good clear response. As to the point above... what's the betting the remaining sister is the sole executor?

Well we've not heard a word. However, the will went to probate in mid December, and the sister, Barbara, is taking and extended annual holiday in Australia, usually from Nov thru March, where her daughter lives.

So it might be that she's in no rush and things will happen after she returns. Yes she's probably the sole executor. I've no idea.

[TTmonkey]

alfie2244 said:

Indeed but I personally wouldn't want to alert her or the executors to any potential issues / challenges until I have seen the Will for myself and perhaps taken legal advice.

This really. I don’t want to cause any offence or bad feelings unless there’s a real case to be looked at.


One of my wife’s last meaningful conversations with her own mother was about the old woman’s will. We didn’t want to know, didn’t want to talk about it, but wife’s mother stated that the old woman had a lot of money that she had decided to leave it all to her grand daughters, not her daughters. However this appears to have been unfounded, as we knew the location of the will (it was kept at mother in laws house) and we know it hadn’t been updated recently to reflect this new information. When the old lady died her daughter requested the will returned to her. It’s hard to believe that the last meaningful conversation has turned out to be some kind of bizarre untruth.

When we see the will, we will see that either wife has been stitched up, excluded, or has a case for a share.

[TTmonkey]

Mystery over. The 94 year old wrote a new will dated a couple of months before her death leaving everything to surviving daughter.

Grand daughters got nothing.

Amazing, could barely recognise herself in the mirror but was sharp enough to think about a new will...... ha.

[TTmonkey]

Thanks all for advice.

[TTmonkey]

Wont be contesting it. Old lady and her husband before her had a history of changing their will every time someone upset them.

I've seen the signature and I don't believe its faked.

We are not surprised by the outcome, we only hoped that a new will hadn't been drafted and that they would have had the decency to share the proceeds with the memory of my wife's mother in mind. Fortunately 'belinda' she was cremated not buried, she would be spinning in her grave with the knowledge that her sister was the only one getting anything.


Good luck to her, hope she does something nice with it.,

[TTmonkey]

Pothole said:

Breadvan72 said:

Why does anyone consider that the mere accident of birth entitles them to anything? Also, if you want to be paid for caring for someone, train as a medic or carer. My brother and I look after our old mum. We do not do so in the hope of reward after her death.

Edited by Breadvan72 on Thursday 17th January 11:56

Come on, BV. You're better than that. Everyone else who doesn't feel the way you do could just as easily question your attitude. A waste of time and energy all round, really.

Undoubtedly, my Mother-in-law looked after both her own elderly mother, and her disabled husband, to the detriment of her own health to the point that it killed her through stress and strain. She would not have wanted, expected nor asked for a penny for this. The year before last we had a mini heat wave in the summer that lasted a short time - temps were way up around 35 degrees for a few days. On the forth night of the heat wave she suffered a catastrophic heart attack whilst sitting watching the tele at 11pm.

She hadn't told her daughter that the NHS had suspected that she had heart disease.

I miss her immensely, and she's my mother-in-law. Which I think tells you what a great person she was. I knew her 35 years and never had a single falling out with her.