Inheritance realities

WHEN PEOPLE learn that they may be entitled to an inheritance, you can almost hear the ‘ker-ching’ of pounds dropping into their pockets, going through their heads. Bearing in mind the fact that only around six per cent of estates actually attract inheritance tax1 (the current threshold being £285,000), the likelihood of one single person inheriting a jackpot from a long lost aunt is rather slim.
A case in point was the estate of Edward Emile Spade, valued at around £65,000 – slightly less than an average sized estate by intestacy standards. The name being a relatively distinctive one, we didn’t expect too much difficulty in locating his heirs.
Edward had had two brothers and a sister who had all predeceased him, which meant that his mother’s and father’s families had to be investigated in order to find Edward’s closest living relatives. While his father, John Arthur Emile Spade, had been the only child of an only child (which meant that there were no heirs on Edward’s father’s side of the family) his mother, Jenny Finch, had 10 brothers and sisters, as was customary at the end of the 19th Century. In fact, apart from two brothers who died without marrying or having any children, most of her siblings continued this tradition and had between four and nine children each.
This already made up 39 potential beneficiaries – and working the families down increased the number of claims to the estate… in total, 74 heirs were identified as being entitled to a share of the £65,000! One aspect which tends to cause confusion, is that heirs are entitled to differing shares in the estate, depending on the degree of proximity to the deceased. In this case, this meant that cousin Emile was entitled to the largest share of 1/8th, while Peter and Elizabeth, two first cousins twice removed (the grandson and granddaughter of Edward’s cousin William) received 1/640th each –- shares which amounted to £4.16 each.

Kasia A. Oberc is relationship manager at Fraser & Fraser. For further information contact 020 78321430 or e-mail legal@lostkin.co.uk

References
1. According to the National Consumer Council, ‘Finding the Will: a Report on Will-Writing Behaviour in England and Wales’ (September 2007)