Where do i stand?

MOONGAZER

I am married to a lovely bloke who has an aversion to writing a will, never seems to be able to sit down and lay things out. His mother's will left him and his 2 brothers equal shares of her estate, (she died 3 years ago), but if one of them was deseased, the estate would be divided between those still alive. The solicitor handling the will, shared out the bank accounts between the 3, and the house is about to be sold. As my husband has not made a will, if anything happened to him, would his share come to me? Has he already inherited his part of the house, or could his 2 brothers lay claim to his third? I'm not being a grabber, but as he did everything for her, and they didnt lift a finger, I know he will be mortified if I dont inherit. Any advice would be welcome, thankyou.

Guest101

I believe you are automatically entitled to his estate, unless his will states otherwise. But dont take that as gospel, its my limited knowledge of marriage laws

bossymoo

Once his mothers estate is settled, the proceeds are then owned by whoever inherited. Unless it was set up as some kind of trust. So the brothers could not come and demand it back, no. The only exception is if someone was to contest the original will, which I believe has to be done within so many months of probate being applied for.

Rules of intestacy depend on where you live and also if you have children. It really is worth pursuing the will situation. It doesn't have to be tricky. My husband was ill and due to a previous condition, we had some concerns. His mum brought a DIY will from the post office. I asked him and he said "you write and I'll sign" so I just wrote "this is the last will and testament

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I appoint my wife xxxxx as my sole executor and heir".

It was just as well, as he didn't survive that illness, and although I "probably" would have ended up with the same financial outcome, it would have taken a heck of a lot longer, much more stress than I needed at that time, and some cost in the form of legal help.

If your situation is simple (no previous marriages in our case, no children outside our own marriage, jointly owned assets eg property) and unlikely to b challenged (by someone who could claim financial dependence on him) then this is a simple thing to do.

It's not tempting fate. You know one of the first things I did after sorting m husbands paperwork out? I went to make a will, to ensure my children were appointed guardians and trustees to take care of them.

MOONGAZER

Thank you, bossymoo, some very good advice and sorry about your loss. Sorry for the delay in thanking you - have been in the garden; oh the weeds!

John_Pierpoint

You need a copy of the grant of representation.

http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/probate/copies-of-grants-wills

If you are visiting London , the staff will explain what you have to do and you can walk away an hour or so later having paid less than £10, with a copy of the paperwork in your hand.
You can also request this by post from Leeds but if the deceased is called Jane Smith you have to identify which Jane Smith as 2,000 people die per working day.

Your husband is entitled to demand a copy of the will and the accounts of the administration but he probably does not want to make a fuss.

As someone has already posted it is just possible that a trust exists and the money has really been left to the grandchildren but your husband is able to borrow it for his lifetime - when you have your own copy of the documentation you can ask here for an explanation of what it means if it is written in legalese or complex (unlikely).

When I was in your situation aged 19 when my grandmother died, nobody talked to me about her will, so I got a copy in London and paid a solicitor to explain it.
We found a cryptic semi secret trust. .......because other arrangements have been made.

Because the grant of representation is a public document wills can contain phrases like ........I leave my house to my dear old friend Joe Blogs because he will know what to do with it.

The family are mystified.

Traditionally Joe Blogs has agreed to be trustee of a fund for housing the mistress and the love child.