Should my 78 year old mum buy a flat?

p0d

pauletruth wrote: »

get a view of the will and get your mum to see a solicitor. as has been said if the will was written before their marriage then its invalid. if he wrote it after he failed to take into count that as a spouse she has rights to an amout of his estate. don't let her walk away as she is still grieving and won't be thinking clrearly.

Cheers Pauletruth. Do you know what amount of the estate she is entitled to? Where can I find this out? By my reckoning she is expecting about 20% of the estate.

RAS

Hi

She needs to see a lwayer - the law is different in different countries, so she needs proper advice from a lawyer in the right country. We can only confuse you.

p0d

She lives in Wales.

Edit - Is the solicitor that is dealing with the will obliged to inform her of her rights as a spouse? Putting the issue of her rights to one side, thank you all very much for your help so far. I think the retirement/warden home ideas are the most suitable. She is a fit old girl and still has plenty of go left in her.

Richard_Webster

If she is considering a retirement flat, please note that 20 year old second hand ones can sometimes be obtained for half the price of brand new ones!

RAS

p0d wrote: »

She lives in Wales.

Edit - Is the solicitor that is dealing with the will obliged to inform her of her rights as a spouse?

No - his duty is to distribute the estate in line with the instructions. He has no duty to advise on variations in the will unless asked.

ILW

I would plump for the retirement flat, which should be more secure than a standard BTL AST.

clw1

In your position I would advise your mother to tell the family that she intends to remain in her current house for the next 9-12 months while she finds the right place for her. That way she doesn't move into something that is not right as moving is very stressful at any age let alone at 78.

In the meantime I would also get a copy of the will and get legal advice to confirm that it is all ok.

As for the type of housing she should get if / when she leaves the current house - She may be fit and healthy now at 78 but she will need more help and support as she gets older and if you are 200 miles away then a flat with a warden who does daily checks is probably the best solution. I would advise her to look round various ones that are both rented or owned and to go with the one that suits her best.

The below link from Age Concern might also be of help:
http://www.ageuk.org.uk/home-and-care/housing-choices/

p0d

Thanks all, I've got a solicitor to advise me on her legal entitlement as the spouse. I suspect that the amount left to her in the will is about 15% of the value of the estate which doesn't seem much for 12 years of marriage. Time will tell. Hopefully she'll have enough to live somewhere nice and be comfortable for the rest of her days. Thanks once again, I'll let you know how we get on.

cheers
p0d

pauletruth

she needs to move quite quickly. she has 6 months from the grant to challenge the will. she is covered by the following http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1975/63/section/1
on your mums behalf inform the solicitor dealing with the will about your mothers rights and that she is planning on challanging the will. you will probably need to do this as loads of folks won't want to upset the family. was your mum married to him for more than 2 years. you need to speak to the probate office and really you need to get a solicitor.
its easy to just let it go for a quite life but you don't know if she will need the money in the future. if she was to need a care home her money would soon vanish.
sorry for the cross posts.

p0d

They were married for 12 years. We can't say if we're challenging the will until we know what's in it, can we? I guess the next step is to get a copy of the will to my solicitor and see if she's getting what she is entitled to.

What's the "grant"?

My step dad died a month ago, but they keep referring to a "probate of will" which will take until March. What does "probate of will" mean and does it impact the 6 months we have to challenge the will?