Inheritance (No will )

I had a relation who passed away.
She had no will made,and had no assets except for a cash deposit. She had her brother joint on all her accounts in case of emergencies.
She had two brothers and two sisters,all are now deceased except for her brother who is joint on her account and another sister.

Her brother sorted out all her affairs,and on speaking to the solicitor was advised as he was joint on the account he is now entitled to all her funds that were in joint names.
Her brother isnt happy with this as he would prefer to see himself and his sister have the funds split evenly.
Is the solicitor correct to say he is entitled to all the funds,as now it looks like a large tax bill will have to be paid by her brother,who then intends splitting the money evenly between himself and his sister.
If the cash was split between the two as next of kins,the tax liability would be a lot lower.
Can anyone advise ?

dromroe said:

. She had her brother joint on all her accounts in case of emergencies.

Click to expand...

In their minds the brother was named on the account in case of emergencies but in reality the brother owned all of the money in the account equally to the sister.

The deceased siblings children are also next of kin. In any case, I think the solicitor is correct, and unless the bank were informed that the brother was added for administrative purposes only, monies in a joint account transfer to the surviving holder on death.

He can of course do whatever he wishes with this money, including gifting half to his sister. This will be treated like a gift though, not an inheritance for tax purposes.

SarahMc said:

This will be treated like a gift though, not an inheritance for tax purposes.

Click to expand...

are gift and inheritance tax not exactly the same rates and allowances?

I think that if the brother who was named as joint account holder confirms that this was not done so that he would inherit but just for emergencies and that there was no intention that he would be the successor on the account, then the funds can fall into the estate. However if there are children of any predeceased brother or sister, they will be entitled to their deceased parent's share per stirpes ( unless they disclaim).