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‘Perfect,’ he replies. ‘Please call me Jonathan.’ I notice that he has a kind, smiley face, and his double chins wobble when he talks, as if they’re trying to show their agreement with whatever he’s saying.
‘So, first things first. Have you brought in the ID that I requested?’
I fish in my handbag and dig out my passport, driving licence, and birth certificate. He studies each one in turn, spending the most time on my birth certificate.
‘It says here that your parents were called Roger and Linda?’ he queries.
‘That’s right.’ Something about the way he’s asked makes me anxious. Maybe I’m not the Daisy Jones he’s looking for after all, and this is about a completely different Frederick and Nora Jones. It would be a hell of a coincidence, though, wouldn’t it?
‘Perfect. I’m just going to give these to my secretary to photocopy, if that’s okay with you, and then I can tell you what this is all about.’
I nod my agreement, and he disappears with my documents. After a couple of minutes, he returns and hands them back to me.
‘Right, Daisy. Everything is in order. I’m sorry to have had to be a little bit careful with what I’ve said to you up to now, but we needed to be sure you were the right person before we could go any further.’
He opens the folder in front of him.
‘As I explained in my letter, your great-uncle, Frederick Jones, passed away just over six months ago. You probably know this. Did you go to the funeral?’
‘I’m afraid I didn’t know, and didn’t go to his funeral. We weren’t exactly close.’
‘Not to worry, these things happen. Are you aware that he and Nora did not have any children?’
‘I did know that, yes.’
‘Normally, when someone makes a will, the primary beneficiaries are the children. Of course, as there were no children in this case, Frederick and Nora had to choose different beneficiaries. Nora was an only child, so there was no family on her side, but Frederick had a brother, your paternal grandfather.’
‘He died before I was born. I never even met him,’ I tell him.
‘Indeed he did, and your father was his only child. So, Frederick and Nora named your father as the primary beneficiary in their will, as he was their closest living relative. However, we always advise people to assume the worst when making a will, so we included a clause for the unlikely event that your father should pre-decease Frederick. In light of subsequent events, this proved to be wise.’
At this point he pauses, and looks me in the eye. ‘Please allow me to offer my condolences on the death of your parents. It must have been a terrible shock.’
I can tell he’s being sincere, even though he’s never met me and clearly never met my parents.
‘Thank you,’ I say, quietly.
‘So, back to the will. We added a clause that said that, if your father were to pre-decease Frederick, any inheritance would pass to his offspring. If there were no surviving offspring, then the final option was to split it among a number of charities. Am I right in thinking you have a younger sister?’
‘Katie, she’s seventeen,’ I tell him.
‘Right, so what this means is that you and Katie are the primary beneficiaries in Frederick’s will. His entire estate passes to the pair of you.’
6
‘I’m sorry, can you explain what that means?’ If I’ve understood him correctly, we’ve inherited everything that Great-Uncle Fred owned, but I need to hear him spell it out.
‘What it means is that you and Katie are, as of now, wealthy young women. It appears that Frederick was a wily investor. As part of the probate process, we’ve liquidated his investments and, after duties, taxes and fees, you are going to receive…’ he looks down at his notes, ‘…seven hundred and ninety-five thousand, eight hundred and four pounds and forty-six pence between you as a cash inheritance.’
I do the maths in my head. That’s just shy of £400,000 each.
‘Bloody hell!’ I exclaim. ‘I thought you were just going to give me a paperweight or something like that.’
He smiles at my outburst. ‘Before you leave, I will need your bank account details to make the transfer. As Katie is under eighteen years of age, the stipulations of the will dictate that her share must be placed in trust until her eighteenth birthday. We can help you with that, if you like.’
‘Yes, please.’ I have no idea how much that will cost, but I’m sure we can afford it.
‘It would be my pleasure. Are you happy for me to put you as the main trustee? You won’t have to do anything; the role is essentially to hold the assets for the beneficiary, in this case Katie. You can’t access the money but, when she turns eighteen, the funds will transfer to her.’
