Uncle jailed after not giving niece and nephew share of will

The executor of a will has been jailed after he refused to give his nephew and niece their part of their grandmother’s inheritance. The uncle simply refused to say what he did with the money, so he was found in contempt of court and had to be located by the police.

The case involved siblings Hollie Totton and Daniel Washer and their uncle Mark Totton. The sibling’s grandmother, Hazel Totton, passed away in 2019 and left £475,000 to her family members. Mark, her son, was appointed executor of the will. Hazel had left half of her estate to businesswoman Hollie and university student Daniel, and the other half to Mark. However, after three years, he still hadn’t given them their share of the inheritance and refused to tell them what he had done with the money.

The siblings took the uncle to the High Court where he said that he had “no excuses” and that he had put his “head in the sand”. He was ordered to give a full account of his dealings with the estate but failed to do so. After being ordered back to the High Court, Totton was declared in contempt of court and had to be found by the police. He didn’t say where the money had gone, and the judge noted that he was only there because the police had tracked him down. He was jailed for six weeks but the judge said he would consider suspending the sentence if he paid his niece and nephew what they were owed.

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