Can stepmum change joint will in her childens favour directly after my dads death?

croftd

My father was diagnosed with a brian tumour and died 18mths ago, before his death and he and his wife who was also terminally ill told me that their estate was to be equally divided between his two children and her two sons, but until her death she would retain control of everything.

This sorted my dad died happy that his affairs were in order, my sister and I never saw his/their will after his death and his wife died last week. It appears that she has gone back on their decision as the will reading has already taken place with out my sister or I being informed and I am guessing since my fathers death my stepmother has changed the will to exclude us and favour her own offspring entirely.

My father worked very hard in his own business to pay of the mortgage and ensure that he had something to leave to his grandchidren and children. His personal possesions were given away to her family without consultation with us and I am shocked at her behavior as we always got on very well. All of this compounds to the sadness of losing a dearly loved father.

Do we have any rights to contest this, can my fathers last wishes be taken into consideration?

clairec79

I think it depends on how his will was worded, if it was left to the four of you with her having a legal right to live there as long as then she couldn't change it, if it was left to my wife, but if she predeceases me then to be split between the four children then she can do what she likes

gentlepurr

Who was the executor of your dads will, i would think they would ahve had copies made, hopefully certified copies, as copies would have needed to have been sent to change anything legal over to your stepmum, eg, bank and/or post office accounts etc.

Good Luck

xx

croftd

Thanks Clairec79, I think I must somehow get a copy of the will and see what was written.

simpywimpy

you can write to the probate office with details of both the death of your dad and his wife and for a small fee, get copies of their wills which would have had to be registered in order for any changes to the property they owned.

If you dad as stated left it to his wife to distribute and her will did not have you in it, then you will get nothing unfortunately but it is definately worth checking.

Nicki

You need proper legal advice about this. It is possible that your mum and dad made mutual wills which means that even if his will left everything to SM outright, she would be prevented from changing her will after the death. Or that his will left her a life interest with the remainder to come to you. Without seeing the will and also investigating the circumstances in which the two wills were made, no one here can give you a definitive answer as to where you stand.

Biggles

croftd wrote: »

This sorted my dad died happy that his affairs were in order, my sister and I never saw his/their will after his death and his wife died last week. It appears that she has gone back on their decision as the will reading has already taken place with out my sister or I being informed and I am guessing since my fathers death my stepmother has changed the will to exclude us and favour her own offspring entirely.

Why are you 'guessing' she has changed the will? If you're saying you've not actually been told that's the case, what has made you come to that conclusion? I'm not sure what you mean by 'the will reading has taken place', as that only happens in murder films; in real life the exectors just get on and deal with it.

There's no reason you would necessarily have been told anything yet, it's very early days and her executor(s) will be busy. It would be understandable if your stepmother's offspring knew more than you about the contents of the will, as they would most likely be helping the executor sort out her affairs, but it doesn't mean they are necessarily the only ones to have inherited. And the probate office won't have copies of the will for a long while as the executors need to get full details of her assets before applying for probate, this can take weeks (months, if the executor is a solicitor...).

croftd

Biggles thankyou for your level headed thread. It has given me a calming angle to consider.

I dont know much about wills/probate hence the post here, I think my guessing is really an intuition based on the last 18mths and I would like to be forearmed with some knowledge about the situation if it turns out to be true.

You are probably right, maybe I am jumping the gun and basing my knowledge of these things on murder films. If it turns out that she hasnt become the archetypicalevil stepmother then I will privately apologise to her. But sadly I have had my eyes opened to the darker side of humanity when there are possesions and money at stake at a time when families should be pulling together rather than falling apart. If indeed she has, as a mother looked to the interests of her own children, I would not blame her but I would like to know that I have looked after the wishes of my father who can no longer do that himself, personally I wouldnt give a jot about it all for one more day with him.

Tomorrows plan is to source a copy of his will, then I can take it from there.

Biggles

croftd wrote: »

Tomorrows plan is to source a copy of his will, then I can take it from there.

If she only died last week, even the executor will probably not have the will yet.

When he has registered the death and got the death certificate, he will probably have to take this to the solicitor (or other body) that may have been storing the will.

So it could be a while yet before anyone sees it. But the most likely scenario is that her children know what's in it and who the executor is; is there any harm in getting in touch to offer your condolences (and maybe see how much they know at the same time!)?

Oh, and though you are concerned, try not to seem too eager, people don't like that ;-)