I’ve been left some money by one of my parents. Somewhere between 15 and 20k. The death occurred a while ago ( and some) and the proceeds from the sale of the house was to be shared between four of the seven children (I’m the youngest). Only four of us for reasons of abject guilt I suppose. I think one of my siblings was living in the house up until recently.
I have had no contact with the dead person for many years prior to the death and only one of my siblings for the same length of time other than visiting a couple of them in prison a few times.
I don’t know if the house is sold yet. I don’t know who is administering the estate. If probate has been granted and what difference it would make anyway.
I only know of the money as the one brother I am still in very occasional contact with phoned me a while ago to tell me and he gave me details for a solicitor that I had to contact with my address and bank details.
I called the solicitor ages ago and spoke to the receptionist. I gave my details as requested and since then I’ve not heard a thing.
It’s all very confusing.
Does anybody know if I can find out if the house is sold and if the funds have been shared? I’ve certainly not had any money deposited into my bank account (nor any taken but this particular brother is a long way from ever being a scammer – he’s a lovely bloke).
Phoning the solicitor would be the obvious answer but I don’t want to appear to be a vulture but now I’ve been made aware of it all, I’m thinking that bastard owes me just as much if not more than he owes my older brothers.
Yeah…..I suppose I am a bit of a vulture but I hated that bastard!

Phoning the solicitor would be the obvious answer but I don’t want to appear to be a vulture

I honestly don’t think anyone will be thinking that.

🙂

4 months isn’t a lot of time in the world of probate / executers I ‘m afraid monsie (hi there!!)

I’d be imagining it’ll be more like 9 months to a year, especially if there is a property sale going on to fund the payout.

They won’t (IME) simply deposit money in a bank account. it will be a cheque with a receipt to complete and return. The wheels of the legal profession grind rather slowly in this area. I guess it all takes time, for the folk on the outside of course progress is painfully slow.

Have indirect experience of this very thing w.r.t. my dad, though thankfully there was no property sale to manage.

Probate can take a loooong time..

Call the solicitor is the obvious answer because it’s the thing you need to do – I’d much rather do that than pester relatives. You’re a beneficiary of the will (you believe), and are asking for an update on probate, then it’s not an unreasonable request.

The only downside is that the solicitor may well bill the estate for writing you a letter saying nothing has happened yet!

Ring the solicitor you’re entitled to know. Im a solicitor that deals with probate and estate planning and your perception of yourself as a vulture would rank on the scale ‘vultures’ at about minus 500 in comparison with many. I asked one client who asked about the probate process and how quick they could have funds when their parent had died, ‘oh, this morning’ was their responce 😯

For reference, a similar thing happened to me, from death to full payment (via bank transfer) was around a year. Call the solicitor, they will tell you where you stand/how far down the road you are.

As the others say call the solicitor as its yours and yo wont look like a vulture…if i call and ask I will look like a vulture

Assume its your dad ?
I guess i will face the same one day and like you I am not sure whether I want it whether I earned it.

Thanks for the replies (Hi Callum).
A sale of the house was going through apparently. I’ve just had a quick text conversation with my brother. The Will stated that the house was to be sold when my sister (the oldest of us) no longer needed it to live in and the proceeds divided between the four youngest.
I’m assuming she’s died or something? It would appear that the house has been empty for a while and first time buyers were in the process of buying it.
It’s not known between the two of us if the sale has or indeed is going through.
Will the matter of probate hold things up? Even if the Will (it would seem) is very simple and unambiguous :
My sister lives in the house. When she no longer lives in it, it’s sold and the proceeds remaining shared between the four youngest.
For clarity, nobody (even if they’re still alive – I honestly don’t know) would appear to be contesting anything.
My daughter is 18 in June. It’d be great to put 15k into an account for her to get her through university or around the world or whatever she would like to do. I’d also like a De Rosa King if there’s enough left.

Will the matter of probate hold things up?

The probate application process itself doesn’t take long – about 2 months. What slows things down is the preparation the solicitor needs to do in advance of a probate application – finalising what assets (and liabilities) are in the estate.

And then, after probate has been granted, the house will have to be marketed and sold, and obviously that can take a while.

So you may well be waiting a fair while longer.

I’m going to ride past the house later to see if it’s already sold.
I’m not much liking the greedy desperate person I appear to be becoming

Probate can take a loooong time..

This^ when my granny died it took a year. I sadly lost my other grandma 6 weeks ago but it was all done in a month (maybe as property was passed down rather than sold and split).

Money and death can make people act odd. I fell out with my cousins wife who recently married into the family, buying a new car and showing off other material possesions on Facebook. She hardly knew my grandma and it all just seem to soon and raw to be showing off were money got spent. I found it crass but we ‘agreed’ I was being too sensitive if she ‘agreed’ she was being insensitive.

I don’t think your sounding greedy by the way.

Monksie i have no legal knowledge whatsover and have never had anything remotely similar.

In no way do you sound greedy its just normal I think. You might be due a very pleasant amount of cash that you can do with as you wish.

Crack on and find out then you can get on with life eitherway.

Only vague passing experience, but if you were a real vulture, you’d have starved by now. These things take time, you are dealing with it very well.

My wife’s grandmaother died in April last year. I was the executor of her will.

The house sold surprisingly quickly (passers by saw us clearing out and made an offer) and the rest of her estate was pretty simple. It still took 6 months before the cash was divided up.

The conveyancing solictitor shared the money out in accordance of the will and electronically transferred it when the sale was complete. So, some people did get money directly into the bank, one morning.

Ringing the solicitor is normal. If you have a name, speak to a secretary to get an update, without the expense of a letter. The fees will come out of the estate, though, so everyone will pay their share.

It sounds to me that you very much want something good to come out of something (by your description,please accept my apologies if I’ve read it wrong) that looks to have caused you some considerable pain.

I don’t think anyone reading this would think you’re acting like a vulture, and you shouldn’t think that of yourself. It’ll be a great start for your daughter, and she’ll feel incredibly grateful and proud to have a dad like you

all the best

I’m not much liking the greedy desperate person I appear to be becoming

You don’t sound like that to me. If you use the cash to support your daughter then that’s not really greed IMO. Give some to charity if you don’t want to feel guilty.

Certainly in comparison to your typical Apple/SUV/shiny-things-addicted Brit, I’d say you’re doing pretty well 🙂

check the house out on zoopla or similar sites to see what its up for and if its benn sold and for what, contact the local Probate office and see what details they have etc, and if any money is in a certain spanish bank, expect a fight to get it out

Woo and indeed hoo! I got a letter yesterday and a Bacs transfer arrived today! Just under but not by much £20,000.
My daughter is very happy. She’s about to get £15k, my wife is very happy she’s about to get almost £5k and I’ve got a strange warm glow of niceness about me.
It took a while though.