Dads Will ignored

evergreen

My friends Dad remarried after his 1st wife died. He owned a large house and had a good pension and afair bit of money when he remarried. In his will he said if he outlived his new wife, any money/ house should be divided between his 3 children and his new wife's 2 children equally. If he died before his new wife, everything should be left to her. Verbally he told his children this but if he died first when his new wife died she would leave everything to be shared equally between his children and hers. He died several years ago and then she died a couple of years ago. My friend who always sent Christmas card and letter to her step mum but had not had a reply for a couple of years, found out her step mum had died. She paid to see her step mum's will and found it left everything to her step mums daughter. Does she have to accept this or s it worth challenging the will? She herself has very little money.

2gorgeousgirls

His will left everything to his wife. His verbal wishes for what happened after her death were always meaningless. Even if she had written her will along those lines prior to his death she always had the right to change her will at any time. It was her property and her right to leave it to whomever she wished.

Your friend has no grounds to challenge the will as far as I know.

Nick_C

2gorgeousgirls wrote: »

His will left everything to his wife. His verbal wishes for what happened after her death were always meaningless. Even if she had written her will along those lines prior to his death she always had the right to change her will at any time. It was her property and her right to leave it to whomever she wished.

Your friend has no grounds to challenge the will as far as I know.

Until yesterday I would have agreed with you. But the Court of Appeal have just decided to ignore the wishes of the deceased and make provision for a child who a deceased person had deliberately tried to disinherit.

An awful judgement that could cast uncertainty over cases like this.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-33684937

This judgement may now mean that it might be worth challenging an "unjust" will.

System

This is nothing like the case in the paper. In that case the daughter was explicitly left out of the will and the reason given in an accompanying letter. Father's will left everything to the wife as is fairly normal. There is NO relationship between the wife and the OPs friend. Wife was free to leave her money to who she wishes. This is ion of the pitfalls when 2nd wives/husbands are involved, they are free to do as they wish in their will and can ignore step-children with relative inpunity

OPs friend may like to contest the father's will but is on a hiding to nothing as the estate was left to his legal wife at the time. She has absolutely no chance of successfully contesting the wife's will

Keep_pedalling

I'm afraid this is not a case of his will being ignored, more a case of a really poorly written will. Your friend's step mother could leave her estate to whoever she wished, and in this case she seems to have cut out not only your friend and her siblings but one of her own children as well.

Not much that can be done I'm afraid.

PasturesNew

This happens all too often. While alive everybody thinks everybody will be fair .... once somebody's died the gloves are off.

izoomzoom

I know a woman who inherited everything from her husband, despite him promising his step children (from his previous marriage) that he would leave everything to them, when their mother died.

The woman I know, then did a new Will leaving a set amount of money to his original step children.

10 years later she has changed her Will again, leaving these step children out completely.

Marktheshark

What his will said could be worth a look.

Mojisola

evergreen wrote: »

If he died before his new wife, everything should be left to her.

Marktheshark wrote: »

What his will said could be worth a look.

It sounds quite clear.

bouicca21

If he had wanted his estate to go to his children he would surely have left his wife a life interest only. As he didn't it is hers to dispose of as she wishes.

SevenOfNine

His Will wasn't ignored, only his wishes were.

bouicca21 has said what he should have done to protect his wife AND his children, but he may have had poor legal advice or just been too trusting of his second wife!

Disappointing for his children but the only consolation for them now is that their Dad intended to look after them.