Will problems

Ol_Jay

sulphate wrote: »

He may not own the house in the sense that he cannot sell it himself, but it is his home and your mother's will has granted him that. He has the right to stay there.

I understand you are upset, but it is not about "jumping to the defence of a freeloading alcoholic", it's about what you are entitled to do and not. For the record, the whole situation sounds very unfair on you, but totally legal I'm afraid.

As someone else said, lifetime tenancy/trusts are very common. My father in law is in a very similar situation to you.

Good luck with contesting the will, if you go ahead.

Seconded

OP,sorry for your loss ,and (IMO) for further helpful and legal advice/opinions maybe the Probate sub board?

bagpussbear

If he is genuinely drinking at least a bottle of whiskey a day, then to be perfectly blunt with you - I think your problem will be a short lived one.

Sometimes in life you have to stand back and let things be, and problems often have a natural way of resolving themselves.

Given he is drinking himself to a very early death, step back and let him do what he wants, sounds like you'll have the house soon enough.

RAS

And in the mean-time see if the estate can pay for building insurance incase anything untoward happens.

hawk30

BigAunty wrote: »

So your solicitor issues him with an S21 (no fault eviction notice) when the property passes to your ownership and it's up to him to contest it (not aware that there's any defence to an S21 but perhaps in complex cases like these the judge might throw it out) and it's up to the occupant to contest the eviction via the civil route.

It's a shame your late mum set up such a complex will.

I'm assuming (but do check with your solicitor) that the ownership of the property makes you legal landlords. If so, the tenant/occupant will have the right to quiet enjoyment of the property which means they can change the locks and exclude any visits to the property if they so wish.

See the Shelter website's section on 'harassment' to understand that it is a criminal and civil offence for landlords to harass an occupant.

Your late mother seems to have inserted clauses into the will that will be hard for you to enforce.

Looks like you will need to go through a formal legal eviction process and the will may well provide him with a defence, whether or not that spares him eviction, I couldn't tell you.

S21 notices only apply if there is a tenant with an AST, which isn't the case here.

BitterAndTwisted

Contesting the will is not going to get this man out of your mother's house and is likely to cost you tens of thousands of pounds. You've been reading too much fiction if you think you can contest the will. It was drawn up by a solicitor to reflect your mother's wishes. Even if it grinds your gears to see this man in the house, I thnik you should try and respect them.

It would be cheaper and quicker just to have a case of spirits delivered to the house every week

HPoirot

Condolences on your loss. I do not see anything you can do TBH, other than sending your good wishes with an extra bottle of malt a day. Now that he is lonely, he may well need more drink.

Counting_Pennies_2

RHYSDAD wrote: »

This man physically assaulted my nephew twice and scared mum from her home on three separate occasions.
Cordial relations are low on the list with respect to this person..

RHYSDAD wrote: »

It isn't his home geminilady, that's the point.

It is his home. A home is not something that you own, it is the place you live in, the place you call home.


Regardless of his actions, and regardless of how you feel towards him. A Will was drawn up and your mother stated her wishes.


You are legally bound by this Will.


Unless you can find any reason this paperwork was not legally binding, you have to stick with it.


Unpleasant, yes, unfair maybe in your eyes. In the eyes of the law he was your mother's husband, and her Will stated he was to stay there. Count yourself lucky the house is coming to you eventually and not left to him entirely. Any work you need to carry out to fix it after he has left will no doubt be covered by the rise in inflation on the house over the next few years.


No one really knows what happens behind closed doors. Much as in his alcoholic moments your mother had a hard time with him, but in other moments they must have been genuinely pleasant for her to invite the man in to her life. Alcoholism is a disease.


I appreciate you are grieving, but I think you should appreciate we are giving you the benefit of our clear thinking, to a question you posted. Just because you don't like the answer does not mean you need to be abrupt in your responses to us.

gettingtheresometime

BigAunty wrote: »

I'm surprised a solictor drew up a will that had those kinds of micro-managing conditions in it to grant him permission to continue to live there.

Who exactly inherits the property? You mention you are executors but who actually will own the property once the will has been executed?

Also, I found your post very hard to read - paragraphs, please.

I know of another will that was written along the same lines - we suspect that that the will was written in that way so it couldn't be challenged.

As much as it grates the ultimate beneficiaries, they have to accept it as there's no grounds for challenging it.

gettingtheresometime

whitewing wrote: »

Would the husband be able to move someone in in the future? (I don't want to add to OP's grief, but am wondering exactly what rights the husband would have).

In the will I referred to, the will stated that the person couldn't move anyone in or stay there if they married.

However, how good a solicitor would have to be to get this clause overturned as being against the person's Human Rights is anyone's guess