Could be anything…the deceased promising one thing but doing another, misbehavior by the executor, surprise in the will. Were there any consequences?
As I mentioned over here, my MIL indicated to her children that any money left in her estate was to be divvied up among the grandchildren, minus one, who got Grandma’s car. However, the will does not state that. The money is coming to the children, and Ivylad and his sisters are in the process of getting the money together to give to the grandkids (it’s less than $11,000 each, so no tax consequences for them.)
It was pretty much readily agreed that we knew what Mum wanted, so we’ll do what she said, even though the will says something different. I can imagine a more dysfunctional aunt or uncle saying to the kids, “Too bad, so sad, have to go by what the will says, now let me go buy some scratch lottery tickets.”
Her father died several years ago. When he was dying he told everyone he had named his sister in the will, but he wanted her to divide his estate between her and his two children.
And I could see the reasonable argument “she only said that to keep you from pestering her - her will is what she really wanted done and that’s why she wrote it that way.”
I remember reading a novel where an dying old rich guy had a meeting with all his feckless heirs, spelling out what was in the will. They. of course, went out and started spending like he was already dead.
After they left, he changed his will, leaving everything to charity, duly signed and witnessed with his attorney, then jumped out the skyscraper window. Talk about the ultimate revenge!
My grandfather’s will stated to divide everything between his grandchildren. The executrix, my aunt, took it upon herself that I didn’t need any money since I was doing well at the time, and gave my share to my sister.
My father inherited a lot of money he wasn’t expecting. Millions. He gave 90% of it away to worthy causes. At least he told us. So, we weren’t screwed over, and he certainly had every right to do what he did. He left a little to each grandchild, for which we’re grateful.
Does the executor have ANY discretion? Say the old gal got paranoid in her final few years and changed her will disowning all her loving children and giving the money to Our Lord and Savior, Kim Jong Un. Is that when the heirs got to court?
Going the other direction, my father arranged things in a very, very uneven way with his investments, so that I benefited more and my brother got less after he died. I did not know about this until after he was gone, so when it came to light, my brother was devastated. I was left in the position to speculate on or justify dad’s decision, which I could not. It was almost like he was punishing my brother, and I had to explain why that was. Not the best time to have to handle that, on top of everything else. I evened the score on my own.
As a result of that experience, I tell people to be transparent about these things while they are alive and don’t leave surprises for those still living, unless you take pleasure knowing they will fight.
I’m sure one of the Great Legal Minds of the SDMB will be along to correct me, but the heirs would have to prove she was not of sound and disposing mind when she changed her will. If she drew up the will herself instead of having an attorney do so, she might have made mistakes that invalidated the will. For instance, I believe you need generally to mention certain of your heirs specifically, like saying “I disown George, for reasons which are well known to him” or only leaving them a dollar.
As always, consult a competent attorney, especially when disputing a legacy to someone with access to nuclear weapons.
If the executor really believes that the testator was not mentally sound, the simplest thing is to refuse to act as an executor. If there is a dispute, the matter should go to court.
When my great-aunt died, she left a rather considerable estate. (She outlived two very well-to-do husbands.) She divvied up the money in what we all considered a fair way - I have no right and no inclination to complain. But when disposing of her personal possessions, not necessarily so much.
My dad (her nephew - she had no children) got her condo, my brother got her car, my sisters got some rather pricey jewelry. She left me her spoon collection. I don’t think she was trying to screw me over - I just think she has a rather exaggerated idea of what the collection was worth.
What would make the story perfect would be if I threw it out, and then found out later it was worth millions, but it wasn’t. I still have it someplace, and it’s just sterling silver. It might be worth $100 if I melted it down, but I’d rather have the story to tell.
I guess technically I did.
My grandmother went really senile in her old age. Her memories basically started regressing to the point when she was about 40 and my dad was her only kid. Since I was closest in age to when he was then she completely got us confused. After she died my parents were dealing with her stuff. In her documents they found something interesting. Apparently she decided she needed to “make a will” even though she had always had one. This new will left everything to the only descendant she was aware of, and I’m sure she meant to think of my dad, but used my name.
I have no idea how it would have legally stood up, but neither I or my dad had any interest in pursuing it. So it just got “overlooked” and we used the one from years earlier when she was as close to a right mind as she got, that split evenly among all her grand kids.
I haven’t, yet, but me and Sr. Weasel are pretty anxious about the inevitable death of his elderly grandparents (pushing 90.) They are multi-millionaires (billionaires? I don’t run their books) and they have six sons and eighteen grandchildren. Word has it most of the stuff is going to the grandkids (that’d be us.)
The uncles in particular are some of the most entitled, self-centered, narcissistic assholes you could imagine, and we have a feeling shit’s going to get ugly. One of Sr. Weasel’s already extremely wealthy uncles already tried to fuck us over when we bought this house from the property management company, essentially reneging on our signed purchase contract after we had already relocated, moved into, and furnished the new home. Suddenly he decided the selling price was too cheap and demanding more for the mortgage. This was his own nephew, and it’s not like we have a lot to covet; it’s a fucking mobile home and we were barely making ends meet at the time. My father in law mitigated the damage in a most dramatic fashion, but the point is, these are the kinds of people we’ll be dealing with in the aftermath.
Anyway, our general attitude about it is that we’re not going to get in the middle of it. My husband’s grandparents, in addition to being generous, are also insanely competent in their business, and we are hoping they’ve done their legal due diligence and know exactly what kind of people their children are. My worst nightmare would be if his uncles sued us for our inheritance or something. We don’t have the kind of resources to defend against something like that. But I think it’s more likely they’ll just fight among themselves for ownership of the business.
Man, it’s going to be a shitshow, and everyone knows it.
Another novel with this theme is The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney. Man leaves a fortune in trust to his kids, which they’ll split once the youngest turns forty. Kids make plans accordingly. There’s a catch; his widow can give money to any of the kids she wants in an emergency. Two months before the distribution, the oldest kid drives drunk, severely injuring someone, and the widow gives virtually all the money to the victim. That’s when the “fun” starts…
Not really, my relatives lived too long to have anything left
But I know someone who did get screwed by his siblings. He didn’t care that much though, I don’t think there’s anything coming my way but I’d prefer not to care about it either. I don’t want my life to have anything to do with such things because I’ve heard too many stories. A little easy to say though when I don’t see anything at stake.
My SO. Her stepfather died a few years ago and she was supposed to get a few grand out of the sale of his house in exchange for breaking contact with her dysfunctional family. Except they let her little sister move in the house instead. No consequences due to the wording of the document that promised to break off contact with the family.
She’s still in contact with her older sister, which is a good thing. Older sis found more half-siblings!
That’s how I take it. What’s in the will is in the will. It’s not my money; I don’t have any right to it. If the will was written while the person was of sound mind well, them’s the breaks.
My parents were part of a bit of a dispute when my grandfather left a bit more to them than the other children. A brother threatened to sue, but nothing happened. They haven’t really talked much since, though, in the past 8 years because of this. Of course, my parents also took care of my grandfather who had Alzheimer’s for the last 10-15 years of his life (he lived in their house), so my opinion of what was an equitable distribution would include the idea that they perhaps deserved a wee bit more of the paltry share. I hate this sort of shit and don’t care what anyone leaves me when they die.
It’s so sad how people are willing to destroy relationships over this shit. It’s hard to imagine any amount of money is worth that. Listen, I like money. It’s fun to fantasize about paying down all our student loans and setting aside a nice chunk for retirement. But we don’t feel entitled to any of it, the idea that his grandparents or even our parents somehow owe us something is absurd. If we do inherit money, it will be a nice surprise. If not, we’ve been making sound financial decisions and will be just fine. I don’t need to live in a million dollar home to be happy.
I truly do not understand the mentality of people who think otherwise.
