Rights of relative living in property query

G_M

FredG wrote: »

Fantastic advice, thank you. Everything has been executed and both my girlfriend and her father's ex wife are appointed trustees of the whole thing (including £10k for him). The second trustee is in favour of eviction despite having no financial interest in the property which is good.

Will definitely get advice too though. You've all been awesome.

As Adrian says.

The Executers have done their job (though I'm not sure they've done it very well if they've transferred the property into her name......).

The trustees now have to do their job ie permit the brother to live there until either

* (probably) he decides to leave, or
* he breaches the terms of the will

The girlfriend herself cannot decide this, the trustees have to jointly agree if/when they believe the terms have been breached. And if the brother disputes them, they have to go to court to argue the case - an courts don't like evicting people from their homes unless there is a clear reason for doing so.

The girlfriend also cannot simply decide to evict just because she wants the property, or the money - the brother has a right to live there.

davidmcn

FredG wrote: »

It was drawn up by a solicitor and agreed by all parties.

Not trying to be pedantic here, but a Will only has one party! The beneficiaries and/or executors don't "agree" it, they just have to deal with it after the death. And can start disputes even if they seemed happy enough before the testator's death.

xylophone

If the property is held in trust, it should surely have been registered in the names of Ms X and Ms Y, Trustees of the (Name of Deceased) Will Trust?

Was the £10,000 also held in Trust or was it an absolute pecuniary legacy to the brother?

And what did the Testator envisage would happen if his son became too ill or disabled to earn a living - was he to lose his home?

And "safe and habitable" - how were these defined?

Has anybody consulted the solicitor who drafted the will?

AdrianC

G_M wrote: »

The Executers have done their job (though I'm not sure they've done it very well if they've transferred the property into her name......).

If it IS in her name, due to an executor dropping one, then what are the trustees trustees of...? And do they actually have any say?

OP - you really need to do some thorough checking-up of exactly what the situation REALLY is. Get the exact wording of the will. Check with Land Registry as to who/what is registered as the owner of the property.

G_M

AdrianC wrote: »

...Check with Land Registry as to who/what is registered as the owner of the property.

and whether any restrictions or charges have been entered against the Title.

davidmcn

AdrianC wrote: »

If it IS in her name, due to an executor dropping one

I suspect more likely that everything is properly registered but the OP is just being loose with his description of the property being left to his gf [once she's got rid of her brother].

Brock_and_Roll

OP - having spent 4 years in litigation in regards to my late father's estate despite his will being 100% clear, I would strongly argue that the family should sit down and make a settlement without resorting to a legal battle.


Of course there will be pain and compromise involved, but even if ultimately victorious in the course as we were, the costs, stress and hassle are not worth it.


There are legal precedents in these types of complex cases with decisions that are all over the place - hence this is a lawyers paradise. From the OP's original post, I would imagine that the legal advice he will receive is that he is likely to have a good chance of a successful claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act - and as he is in situ, this practically makes his case stronger. Furthermore, as we discovered the claimant may well get legal advice on a no win, no fee basis whilst we had to pay out of our own pocket!


Starting at £200 an hour, by the time you are in court with your barrister you are looking at £1,000 an hour (+ VAT!)

Guest101

FredG wrote: »

Hi all,

Hoping someone can help me with this, bit of a strange one.

My girlfriend was left a property in her father's will. Her brother currently lives in the property under conditions that he maintain the upkeep of the property and keep himself in a financially viable state to continue to do so. - does he own a share too? If this is not the case the will decrees that the property is to be sold immediately with proceeds going to solely my girlfriend. - is he challenging the will? What rights of abode does it grant?

The property is basically a hoarder's paradise and after 12 months of assisting him with tidy ups (skip hire etc) and finding himself unemployed for six months while making little effort to obtain a job my girlfriend has decided that enough is enough and wants to give him notice to vacate. - that's not a 'thing' Any requests to get the house into a respectable state have been met with aggression and to be fair to her she's been more than patient. - irrelevant

Can anyone shed any light on what the proper process would be?

Just gonna bullet point some info in case it effects the procedure:

* There is no signed tenancy agreement. - irrelevant
* He has never paid rent - is any owed?
* The property will require a fair chunk of cash/effort to get it in a saleable state - not likely to be relevant
* The property is solely left in my girlfriends name - why? and what rights does he have?
* There is ample proof via photograph that the house has been decimated - not really relevant until the above is answered

Any advice graciously received. She's so absolutely stressed about it and I've been able to pass a bit of knowledge on. Obviously we'll seek legal advice in addition but any headsup would be great.

Thanks for reading.

It depends on what context he lives there. If the will allows him occupation rights, conditional, then you'd need to convince a court that those conditions are sufficiently breached to warrant eviction

Guest101

FredG wrote: »

Thanks G_M. It's definitely written into the will but it isn't worded "upkeep". It's worded as ensuring the property is kept safe, clean and habitable.

safe = as in electrics and gas? that's typically what safe means
clean - that's subjective and will not likely succeed (especially given it was a hoarder paradise as you said)
habitable - I wouldn't touch with a barge pole. Most places are habitable if they have washing and cooking facilities and a source of heat

Brock_and_Roll

Read the original post again.


Looks to me like the deceased father was attempting to be fair to both children.


Son gets house to live in for life. Daughter gets the legal title and, ultimately the future benefit. Presumably the son's immediate need was judged by the father to be higher than the daughters - which given that the son is out of work, seems to have been borne out.


This would get very messy indeed if it ever ended up with the lawyers.


I think its highly unlikely given the will terms, that the brother could be forced to leave - the conditions about keeping the place in shape are subjective, and at the end of the day if push came to shove, he could simply tidy the place up to knock those conditions on the head.


If the daughter wants shot of the property and wants to get the money now, the only realistic way of doing this would be to offer the brother a split of the proceeds.


As I said in a previous post this WILL end up very nasty if goes down the legal route.