Hi all, I'm hoping there are some law savvy people on here. My MC's adopted mother has died leaving a substantial estate. She also owns a cottage in a remote village that no-one knows about other than the solicitor that has served her family for a very long time. The mother has left instructions with the solicitor to hand over the secret cottage to my MC and to transfer a large amount of money into the MC's bank account - all to be done in secret and before the Will is read. Once the Will has been read the bulk of the estate will be left to the MC's sister, leaving only a modest amount to the MC which in turn will stop the MC's sister from contesting the Will. I know that this isn't how probate works, BUT is it actually illegal for the solicitor to follow the deceased's instructions and hand over the cottage and the cash immediately following death. It's ok if it is, I intend to write in that's it's illegal, but before I do that I wanted to check. Many thanks for her help. V.
I'm pretty sure it would be illegal. A secret transfer of funds and a transfer of property would smack of tax evasion. HMRC would be VERY interested, given that there would be inheritance tax to pay on it, and I imagine any such transfer would be contested in court. Keep in mind any transfer of property would be publicly viewable on the Land Registry, unless done in some underhanded manner. A solicitor would get in serious trouble for facilitating this.
That's what I thought. Thank you for confirming. And UK is perfect, I do live in NZ but the story is based in the UK. Thanks for your help
I don't understand the situation . If this secret house and money is in the will , keeping it secret until after the will is read seems pointless. If the propriety and money is not in the will , than a solicitor , or anybody else would not have the right to transfer ownership to someone else . It would be more likely not less that property and money would go to next of kin without one If the MC has left instructions for the transfer with a solicited, that is a will. In reality contesting wills is not that common , becous it hard to win.
There is a Will, but the cottage and the money transferred are not part of it. It's a very wealthy estate but these two things were kept separate so only the deceased and the deceased's solicitor knew about them. The deceased left instructions with the solicitor to transfer the secret property and the money to the MC upon the deceased's death, for no other reason than to keep it's existence from the rest of the family. Then, when the Will is read, the rest of the family inherit everything. The MC, via the Will, is left a small amount of money - enough to be reasonable (it would have seemed odd if she didn't inherit anything) but not so much as to upset the rest of the family (she's adopted, and the family have never liked her). The aim of the deceased was to make sure the MC got the secret cottage with enough money to live off. I also wanted the MC to receive the cottage AND some money immediately following the deceased's funeral because I know estates, especially large ones, can get caught up in probate for months on end - and the story couldn't wait for that to happen. I'm happy to mention that it's illegal of the solicitor to follow the deceased's instructions, but need to know if it really is illegal, or if this is something that could potentially happen?
You could use a trust fund . . Someone can set up a trust fund , a trust fund can contain anything of value . It has conditions that must be meet for its transfer , death is one of them . So the mother could set up a trust fund that contained the cottage and money. On her death it would pass to you MC . It is common in the UK for the pople to do this , for tax avoidance. It can have other conditions . I have a relative who received a considerable large inheritance, but it was on the condition he was over twenty five and married.
This explains how a Trust Fund operates in the UK. https://www.equifax.co.uk/resources/money_management/trust-funds.html
Apologies for the late reply. Thank you @More and @jannert for the suggestion of a Trust and the link. Sounds like this may be just the ticket.
A couple of points here: Firstly it takes a ridiculous amount of time to transfer land in England. A quick conveyance is an unknown concept here. Secondly, it strikes me that what the mother is doing is asking the solicitor to lie to one of the beneficiaries. She's not trying to avoid tax. Thirdly - and this may scupper your plot - it is apparently the law in England that once a will has gone through Probate anyone can buy a copy for £10. I hope this helps.
