Judgement Received.

[tina88]

A year ago I won a court battle between myself and my brother A. The judgement was in my favour. However, my brother declared himself bankrupt so as not to pay me. The trustee in bankruptcy is now investigating him as monies have been moved from his account to an account we have yet to discover whose. In the meantime I have just received a letter from another brother, B (who was defending brother A in court). The case was to do with an inheritance from our step father which was left to me, in a Will, proven to be written when dad was of sound mind. Mother was still alive and although he left her no money in the Will, as she had sufficient of her own, he allowed her to live in the house (originally his before they married and in his sole name) until she died. Mother never contested this.
Brother B has now reared his ugly head asking for inventories and accounts for both mother and stepfather as he says mother should have received 50% of stepfathers estate under the 1975 Inheritance Act. Stepfather died in 2013, mother in 2015.
I am loathe to face another battle and legal expenses. Is there any chance he could have some legal stance?

[Barmaid]

If mother did not bring a claim under the 75 Act when she was alive then it's too late now.

Only creditors and beneficiaries are entitled to an inventory and account from the personal representative.

[tina88]

Thank you very much for your answer. I also meant to add that brother A was found guilty of stealing monies from bother mother and step fathers individual bank accounts. So the money he took from mothers account around £12k if he had the decency to return it this would then be distributed to all siblings.

[Buenchico]

Barmaid (who is a barrister specialising in such matters) has answered your question but, just in case any clarification is needed, I'll add just a little bit more:

The Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 does NOT give a spouse (or anyone else) an automatic right to any part of a deceased person's estate. (So the '50%' figure quoted by B is utter nonsense). All it does is to give certain people the right to seek a court order varying the terms of a deceased person's will. The Act provides guidance as to the matters which the court can consider but it is entirely up to the court to determine whether or not the will's provisions should actually be varied. (i.e. making an application under the Act offers no guarantee that anything will change).

Further, Section 4 of the Act imposes a time limit for applications to be made: "An application for an order under section 2 of this Act shall not, except with the permission of the court, be made after the end of the period of six months from the date on which representation with respect to the estate of the deceased is first taken out . . ."

So I suggest that your response to B's demands should include the words "running jump!"

;-)

[Peter Pedant]

Many thanks BM
I feel you are undervalued on this site ....

but not by me - mwah mwah mwah

[tina88]

Thank you very much for your replies. Brilliant site :)