Ignoring parts of a will

izoomzoom

When we started our will process we owned our home as JT but we wanted to leave our portion to our children so were advised to change to TIC.

In fact Will company held off giving us our will to sign until the house tenancy had been severed.

TBagpuss

DinkyLass wrote: »

I just can't get my head around someone being so underhand when his own father was dying!

It may not necessarily have been underhand.
With it being a second marriage, Dad may have got worried and wanted to make sure that his son would be entitled to something eventually, and it sounds as though what he tried to to was to give his wife a life interest so she had a secure home, ensure that she had 3/4 of the property to leave as she wanted, and to secure something for his son. Those would not be unreasonable provisions to make, and would leave it open to the wife to then leave the remaining 75% of the property to her own child on her death.

I'm not clear why your friend would have expected her step-dad to leave her anything - it doesn't, on the face of it, appear unreasonable for him to have assumed that her mother would do so in due course.

Of course, the son may have been underhand, and it sounds as though he was badly advised.

The widow is legally in the clear. Ethically, she should perhaps be considering whether her hisband did in fact wish to leave some part of the jointly owned assets to his son, and if so, consider whether it would be appropriate for her to make suitable provison in her own will so that the house is ultimately shared between her child and her husband's child.

From what you say in your OP, it seems that the somn had been estranged but had re-established conbtact with his dad over the past few years. Are your friend and her mum saying that despite this, Dad stiall did not wish his son to have anything at all?

DinkyLass

TBagpuss wrote: »

It may not necessarily have been underhand.
With it being a second marriage, Dad may have got worried and wanted to make sure that his son would be entitled to something eventually, and it sounds as though what he tried to to was to give his wife a life interest so she had a secure home, ensure that she had 3/4 of the property to leave as she wanted, and to secure something for his son. Those would not be unreasonable provisions to make, and would leave it open to the wife to then leave the remaining 75% of the property to her own child on her death.

I'm not clear why your friend would have expected her step-dad to leave her anything - it doesn't, on the face of it, appear unreasonable for him to have assumed that her mother would do so in due course.

Of course, the son may have been underhand, and it sounds as though he was badly advised.

The widow is legally in the clear. Ethically, she should perhaps be considering whether her hisband did in fact wish to leave some part of the jointly owned assets to his son, and if so, consider whether it would be appropriate for her to make suitable provison in her own will so that the house is ultimately shared between her child and her husband's child.

From what you say in your OP, it seems that the somn had been estranged but had re-established conbtact with his dad over the past few years. Are your friend and her mum saying that despite this, Dad stiall did not wish his son to have anything at all?

I can see where you're coming from. There is a fair bit of family background to the whole story which I won't go into but to sum up, the deceased dad was wary of his own son's intentions and clearly stated that he wanted everything to go straight to his wife and for her to do what she wanted with it. His only concern was his wife having the financial stability of the house and assets to support her into her older years.


I believe they were in the process of writing a will that said as much but his illness was so sudden and fast that it got put on the back-burner and they ran out of time, so the son stepped in and took matters into his own hands.


My friend has also made it clear that she's expecting anything, she just wants to know that her Mum will be able to do what she wants with the house to provide for her own care as she gets older.


Families eh!

Mojisola

DinkyLass wrote: »

It turns out the son, after finding out his Dad was dying, had a 'solicitor friend' write this will in this hospital while his Dad was actually on his death bed and got him to sign it, so there's currently a situation going on where the wife wishes to contest the will but it's looking like it will be a lengthy and expensive process.

DinkyLass wrote: »

I believe they were in the process of writing a will that said as much but his illness was so sudden and fast that it got put on the back-burner and they ran out of time, so the son stepped in and took matters into his own hands.

If they were doing this through a solicitor then he/she should have notes of what the father planned to say in his will and it would make challenging the later will easier - but still very expensive.

As the widow has automatically become the sole owner of the house, does she need to challenge the latest will?

What happens to the other assets?

DinkyLass

Mojisola wrote: »

If they were doing this through a solicitor then he/she should have notes of what the father planned to say in his will and it would make challenging the later will easier - but still very expensive.

As the widow has automatically become the sole owner of the house, does she need to challenge the latest will?

What happens to the other assets?

I had an update from my friend on this yesterday. I'm not overly familiar with the legal jargon but I believe they are in the process of having the son removed as an executor of the will and it sounds like he's now ignoring all correspondence and gone to ground.


The other assets were minimal, there were no savings or life insurance policies and the joint business was only small and not worth much.

Yorkshireman99

DinkyLass wrote: »

I had an update from my friend on this yesterday. I'm not overly familiar with the legal jargon but I believe they are in the process of having the son removed as an executor of the will and it sounds like he's now ignoring all correspondence and gone to ground.


The other assets were minimal, there were no savings or life insurance policies and the joint business was only small and not worth much.

In which case, on the details given, the estate may be insolvent. How much is small as far as the business is concerned? Who paid for the funeral?

DinkyLass

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

In which case, on the details given, the estate may be insolvent. How much is small as far as the business is concerned? Who paid for the funeral?

It was a small workshop rental business, with a lease due to end in 3 years, probably brings in about £500 a month tops.


The house is worth somewhere around £85k.


The couple had about £3-4k in a joint account and the funeral was paid in advance when the dad got his diagnosis. I also think my friends mum was able to get the widows benefit payment of about £1200 to help with funeral costs but she's terrified to spend it in case she gets hit with fees from the solicitor that the son appointed.

Yorkshireman99

DinkyLass wrote: »

It was a small workshop rental business, with a lease due to end in 3 years, probably brings in about £500 a month tops.


The house is worth somewhere around £85k.


The couple had about £3-4k in a joint account and the funeral was paid in advance when the dad got his diagnosis. I also think my friends mum was able to get the widows benefit payment of about £1200 to help with funeral costs but she's terrified to spend it in case she gets hit with fees from the solicitor that the son appointed.

Thanks for that. In which case the money all needs to be accounted for and the estate is not insolvent. The executor will have to sort it out. £6,000 per year rental cannot just be ignored.

DinkyLass

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

Thanks for that. In which case the money all needs to be accounted for and the estate is not insolvent. The executor will have to sort it out. £6,000 per year rental cannot just be ignored.

Yeah, my friends Mum wants it all sorting properly as it's now her sole source of income before she hits retirement age. She's just sad and shocked that his son wanted to take half of everything from her with no care or consideration for how she was supposed to support herself.


I'm just really glad she's managed to at least secure the house for herself.

lisa110rry

Dinky Lass, you would be amazed how people can "turn" where a will is concerned. I am very lucky in that when my Mum died all the family were behind me (they were all bought gifts or given money - car, personal electronic items like videos and such - as a memento of Mum who died on the day her will was sent to her for signature). However, her "best friend" who had Power of Attorney over her assets in another country which amounted to tens of thousands was not so supportive. The morning after I told that person that Mum had passed away, she went to Mum's bank first thing and cleared all her accounts. Thankfully Mum was known to the Bank Manager who thought this odd and called me, transatlanticly, to ask if this was expected. Because of his fast action, I was able to get the money back - never had an answer as to whether the woman or the Bank refunded it.

As I said, Mum had an unsigned will on the day she died, but outside the will, Mum had asked me to give £10k to this woman and £5k to each of two other friends. I would not give the thief her £10k but could not morally keep it, so I split it to give to the other two friends along with their £5k. I telephoned and explained what had happened. One of the other two friends worked with the thief (it's a small town), so her reputation was finished. Justice was done.

Dinky, your thread got me thinking about something else and I've just checked with Land Registry that our home is owned as Tenants in Common as we wish, when one of us goes, to give 50% of the value of our home (or equity in it) to our only child. Our wills are set up that way.

Thank you.