Tweet
Ok where do I start? hoping for some sound advice/help as know I am getting screwed over by my Mother! the simplest way I feel I can explain the situation and keep it simple is in the following manor.
I am the eldest of three brothers, we all grew up on a farm owned by our Mother and Father, I will simply call us siblings 1, 2 and 3 one being the eldest and so on, myself (1) I built a house on waste land in 2000 on the understanding with my father and mother if built and paid for by myself I would in turn pay no rent plus have the waste land signed over as soon as possible as already two existing houses on the farm, sibling 2 left in his twentys and purchased a house with his wife, and sibling 3 still lives at home, and this have been the situation for around twenty years.
As a child growing up in the 70's/80's I had a very tough upbringing, however sibling 2 was treated like the golden child with an upbringing totally different to mine, and sibling 3 got away with murder.. just the way it was and thought nothing of it.
Anyway wind forward to 30th July 2018, this was the day my father died suddenly on the farm.. since then I thought all was in order and being sorted out in regards to the farm/estate in the proper manor untill becoming very suspicious over the last few weeks of the way in things where proceeding and things not adding up? this will get very long winded if I continue writing, and feel best to simply list events below in order... so here I go.
What I knew
The last thing is My house was valued without my knowledge by my mother at £165,000 and she has included it within my fathers estate which is not correct and infact leaves me £165,000.00 worse off if included within the estate? also for reference I had my house valued yesturday myself and it has been valued at over £600,000.00??
Help would be greatly appreciated, I had no idea of this paperwork until yesturday Its obviously fraudulent, well the whole thing is! I have no idea where to start, funds are low due to covid, would like to feel I could deal with this myself, but guess needs a Solicitor? which could get very costly.. anyway all/any help would be great..
I am the eldest of three brothers, we all grew up on a farm owned by our Mother and Father, I will simply call us siblings 1, 2 and 3 one being the eldest and so on, myself (1) I built a house on waste land in 2000 on the understanding with my father and mother if built and paid for by myself I would in turn pay no rent plus have the waste land signed over as soon as possible as already two existing houses on the farm, sibling 2 left in his twentys and purchased a house with his wife, and sibling 3 still lives at home, and this have been the situation for around twenty years.
As a child growing up in the 70's/80's I had a very tough upbringing, however sibling 2 was treated like the golden child with an upbringing totally different to mine, and sibling 3 got away with murder.. just the way it was and thought nothing of it.
Anyway wind forward to 30th July 2018, this was the day my father died suddenly on the farm.. since then I thought all was in order and being sorted out in regards to the farm/estate in the proper manor untill becoming very suspicious over the last few weeks of the way in things where proceeding and things not adding up? this will get very long winded if I continue writing, and feel best to simply list events below in order... so here I go.
What I knew
- My father and mother ran a farm/estate up to my fathers death in July 2018
- My mother called a preliminary meeting in June 2019, to discuss the farm, land, inheritance tax and how we would split the farm up between the four of us, a mother/widow and 3 siblings
- My mother produced a breakdown of the property and land owned and explained it had to be split up in the way listed to avoid inheritance tax, which seemed reasonable enough.
- For reference the valuation of the estate was - £1,613,749.00
- At the meeting we where advised my father had a will and the way in which the land/property was to be distributed was as per his will, which again seemed reasonable
- The only thing I disagreed with was my house? this should never have been part of my fathers will/estate? I had built it and lived in it rent free for around twenty years, yet still not signed over!
- I had built it in 2000, had extended it in 2006 with a little financial help (around £10/20,000.00) however we all agreed still my house
- My fathers reasoning for this money/financial help was quite simple, the two other houses had fallen into serious disrepair and he wanted to speand money on them, so thought it only right he did the same for me as the other two houses which where going to be left to the other two siblings, but changed nothing.
- Again for reference my father invested around £110,000.00 in the other two properties
- At the meeting my mother, myself and two other siblings agreed on the way in which the farm/estate was to be distributed
- The only change was that my house would signed over to myself as agreed in 2000, due to the fact it was mine and should have been dealt with a long time ago.
- In July 2019 my mother produced a A4 piece of paper asking me to sign and print with witness?
- I asked what I was signing and its purpose, as nothing attached to it? she advised all it was for was to agree in principle to what was discussed and agreed at the meeting, the other 2 siblings had already signed theirs and I was holding things up as MUST be signed before the two year aniversery of my fathers death else we would be hit with inheritance tax
- I was informed by my mother this was just a paper exercise, we would have a follow up meeting and sort properly, the reason for this Covid.. as she could not have a face to face meeting with the solicitors dealing with the farm/estate, this seemed more than plausible due to the covid situation.
- My father died - INTESTATE! when I confronted my mother with this, she then adviced she had no idea and that he had a living will which I know is also untrue!
- My mother advised was a partner in the farm, however now found out she owned absolutely NOTHING!
- My Mother obtained a Administration Letter from the Probate Office on the 1st May 2019, to deal with my fathers estate!
- This Administration letter has not been stamped/bear the impressed seal of the court!
- The estate has been hugly undervalued? not sure if this is normal?
- My mother had sold a number of assets belonging to my fathers estate, no idea where the money has gone?
- In November 2018 (Within 4 months of death) my mother took out an agricultural mortgage for £90,000.00
- I have now found out the agricultural morgage was used to purchase agricultural land locally
- I have searched the land registry and found the land was purchased on the 26th March for £90,000.00 and the owners/title absolute are that of my mother and sibling 2, 50/50!
- I have now found out that she is in the process of signing over a further amount of land valued at £210,000.00 to sibling 2!
- I have also now found out she has Agricultural Property Relief (APR) to lower the inheritance tax liabilities which is quite normal however the way in which she has used it is not!
- At this moment in time the APR has been used to make sure my mother has a tax liability of £0, Sibling 2 a tax liability of £10,000.00 and siblings 1 and 3 a tax liability of around £275,000.00
- Meaning my mother has no inheritance tax, sibling 2 has £4,000 and siblings 1 and 3 £110,000.00 based on 40% Inheritance Tax, I am no mathematician but this does not seen right to me!
- I confronted my mother yesturday and demanded a family meeting, of which she and sibling 2 refuse, stating that it was what we agreed.
- Intrestingly she produced a deed of variation she claims was at the preliminary meeting in June 2019 (which it wasn't) and a coverling leter for the solicitors dealing with the estate
- She refused to give me a copy of the deed of variation advising she doesent have to, I took it from her and have kept it.
- Interestingly the cover letter from the Solicitors is dated 11th December 2019, some five months after our preliminary meeting in June 2019, the Solicitor clearly states he has no address details for the 3 siblings on the deed of variation, and that my mother might want to write them in for them as NO changes to the address page WILL affect the signature page!
- Also if your happy with the deed of variation you might like to sign the deed where indecated and get the siblings to sign also!!
- Simply put the deed of variation states my father died Intestate and that the deed was based on an assumed will portrayed to them by my mother based on what was said immediatly before his death!
- You maybe intrested to know that my father died instantly of a massive heart attack, my mother was not with him and I carried out CPR for over an hour before help arrived but he was pronounced dead at the seen.
- In the deed of variation it states all assets are to be treated as passing from the deceased person's estate to my mother and I am to be a Trustee of my own property until she dies?
- Basically she has taken all inheritance away without my knowledge including my house which I built and will pass it on when she dies...
The last thing is My house was valued without my knowledge by my mother at £165,000 and she has included it within my fathers estate which is not correct and infact leaves me £165,000.00 worse off if included within the estate? also for reference I had my house valued yesturday myself and it has been valued at over £600,000.00??
Help would be greatly appreciated, I had no idea of this paperwork until yesturday Its obviously fraudulent, well the whole thing is! I have no idea where to start, funds are low due to covid, would like to feel I could deal with this myself, but guess needs a Solicitor? which could get very costly.. anyway all/any help would be great..
.
Comment