Have you ever recieved an unexpected inheritance?

[phorsenuf]

My mom called me last night for my new address. She told me that my great aunt and her son recently passed away. It was my other great aunt who had called. The two sisters and their only sons all live together out in California. They have no other family. The aunts never remarried and each son never married or had children either.
While we occasionally kept in touch with them it wasn't very often. The aunts are/were in their 90's, the sons in their 70's. So now with the passing of the one side, we found it odd that the other aunt called (after many years) to request mine and my brothers and sisters addresses. The only thing we could figure is it has something to do with a will.
Has anyone ever been named in a will and not known it? How does that process work?

I was also looking up the obits and such from their deaths but couldn't find anything. Not even through the Social Security index. I wanted to update my genealogy records, but can find nothing about them. Very odd.

 

[tvguy]

My dad got an unexcected inheritance from a cousin in England. But it wasn't in a will, my dad was the last living relative and there was no will. Some company out of Los Angeles makes their living tracking down people around the world who may be due an inheritance, for a commission of about 90% I think, but my dad still did end up with $1,000 from a cousin he had never heard of.

 

[wiigirl]

I did from my great Uncle...total surprise. Some cash and a bunch of art work and furniture....only met him around 3 times in my life.

 

[bookgirl]

I was listed in my grandmothers will, not because I recieved any of the estate, but because I was listed as "in case (my mother) preceeded (my grandmother) in death" I was to recieve her share of the inheirentance.

You might be listed as your mothers in case of.

At 11 I thought it was totally cool to keep getting mail from the lawyers, (they had to since I was the backup heir).

 

[ilovepcot]

DH inherited money from a great uncle he didn't even know existed. The man was single and had no will. He and his siblings only got $3,000 but it was divided up among a large number of people. The law firm handling the estate had to track down every living relative of the deceased to distribute the money. From what we understand, it took years and not all were located. He has a cousin that would have received $9,000 but he couldn't be found.

 

[superme80]

Yes. DH's dad passed last year and their was life insurance with him as the benifeciary. We thought every thing was going to his step mom.

 

[Robinrs]

I had a first cousin who became ill as a result of the post 9/11 air. He was found unconscious in his apartment at age 50.

They contacted us, his only known relatives, so my niece flew to NY to check on him. He passed away shortly afterwards.

I was working a contract job at Turner at the time and was just told that we would be losing our jobs the week before Christmas. On the same day my sister called me and said my cousin's estate was being split amongst us, my 2 sisters and me, in January.

I was amazed, I didn't even know he had a DIME. It truly helped me out until I got a job in April of that year, and was a true right on time blessing.

Thanks, cuz!

 

[mamasuf]

They probably died "in testate" which means without a will. Several years ago I got the exact phone call from my mom. One of my father's aunts had died with no children and no will. I had never met her or even knew she existed. Her estate would then go to her siblings who were all dead so then to their children and children's children. Essentially, my sister and I were getting our grandmother's/father's share (my father is dead, too). There were a ton of cousins so I think I ended up with about $700.00.

Also, because she died in testate, it took quite a long time. Expect to get your check in about 4 years.

 

[hlg22]

Not exactly an "inheritance," but...I have a bachelor uncle who is very well off financially. About 10 years ago, I received a registered mail envelope from him out of the blue. In it was a check for $10,000, along with a letter stating that he and his financial planner had determined that he should distribute some of his estate now, and he was therefore sending these checks out to all of his nieces and nephews. It also asked that I not disclose the check to other relatives or discuss it with anyone other than my parents/cousins (presumably to avoid any family ******* with his brothers/sisters with no kids who wouldn't be getting anything).

It was a nice chunk to put in savings for me, but at that point I'd already bought my first house, had a well-paying job, and was pretty financially secure. My sister, however, called me hysterically crying when she got her check - she had just graduated from college, was underemployed, and was having a hard time making ends meet so it was a huge amount of money for her. Our other cousins are younger and presumably their parents have invested the money for their educations.

 

[phorsenuf]

I have no idea if it has anything to do with any type of inheritance but cannot think what else it could be. I last talked with them a couple years ago trying to get some genealogy info from that side of the family. My sister visited them a few years back. Just seemed so odd that they called my parents out of the blue like that. The one aunt died about a year ago (never called us) and the son just shortly after Christmas.

 

[kimmar067]

They probably died "in testate" which means without a will....

...boy...I was thinking something TOTOALLY different...

 

[Disney Ella]

DH got an unexpected inheritance from an aunt. It was hard to know what to do first with that $50. (It was very nice of her to think about her nephews and nieces.)

 

[SC Minnie]

DH got ~$10,000 from an uncle about 7 years ago. The uncle was very well off and left money to all his nieces and nephews as well as his own children. DH didn't even tell me about the money until he had already bought a DVC resale at HHI. He told me when he needed my signature on the contract. At first I was not happy because we could have used that money for so many things. Now I understand his thinking.

 

[Handbag Lady]

I didn't but my mom did. Her very distant cousin died alone and with no children nor spouse. He had a will and named everyone in their close family, equal portions to all. Apparently, he was well off because mom got over $20k as did everyone else, after all of the lawyers and fees were covered. My mom had 5 brothers and sisters at the time, plus all of the other Italian cousins. I think there were 32 people altogether listed? They did find everyone, too. It took a long time.

My mom spent it in less than a year! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

 

[Mokat76]

I was executor of a relative's large estate, which was divided equally among the surviving siblings or their surviving children. Despite knowing where everything was and the approximate value, I was still surprised months later when going over the final details and closing small accounts when a bank branch manager pulled me into her office and told me the small account I was closing was linked to a certificate of deposit in my name only. It was a significant amount my relative wanted me to have, knowing that I would not take the executor fee from my relatives for managing the estate to its conclusion. I checked with the attorney and the court and yep, the money was mine. It was a HUGE surprise and to this day I am grateful.

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

DH, when DH's father passed we recieved a huge shock to the tune of over $100,000.

His father had been living in assisted living for many many many years and was very ill at his death. He shared joint Power of Attorney between himself and his uncle. All the while the uncle knew about the money and finally at his fathers death had to reveal the account.

Then same years later, he got an addition 30K that had been left to his father by an aunt. It feel under the Summary of Adminstration and was sent on to DH.

He's been quite the lucky duck in that area, me...I've never got a dime from anybody, such is life

 

[violetrose]

Not me but my DH's sister inherited over a million dollars from their grandfather, many years ago when a million dollars meant a lot more than it does now. He had over 30 grandchildren but she was his favorite and when he died he left every penny he had to her. He was a jeweler and had quite a fortune by the end of his life. A lot of family members were very jealous and petty when the truth came out, but she has always been generous with the money. In addition to cash assets she inherited a house that she has allowed other family members to live in over the years. I don't begrudge her the money he left to her. I don't think it was very kind of him to show such favoritism but it was his money so I guess he did what he wanted to do.

 

[Minnesota!]

Yes. My brother and I split my dad's portion of my grandparents estate since my dad had already passed away when the estate went to be settled. We received a VERY nice chunk of change....it was shocking to me because I never in my wildest dreams thought that was a possibility and I figured since my dad died between when my gma and gpa died, I thought the will would have been amended. I am forever grateful to my grandparents - that money helped us when we were at our worst.

Also, when DH's grandma passed away - the kids in DH's family were all willed DH's dad's portion (since he had passed). So they split it. It was a nice chunk of money, too...about $10K each.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Nope and I can't think of anywhere it could come from in the future (aside from my parents or dh's mother. ).

 

[disykat]

I got 10K when my grandmother passed away. I had just assumed it would all go to my mom and her brother, but grandma stipulated that each of the grandkids get 10K at the time of her death.

That was years ago and we paid off a vehicle and put aside a chunk of it for our 10th anniversary trip to WDW and DCL with the kids. Grandma wasn't much for traveling, but she would have been happy that we established a family tradition.