Inheritance surprises

Tallyboo

Hello, I wonder if anyone else has had a similar surprise. My mother has recently passed and left my sister and myself beneficieries of her house. We had agreed between us that I would buy my sisters half and move into the property. However, our sister died 20 years ago, her husband had since remarried twice over. We have been advised that he is entitled to a third of the estate although only myself and my sister are named on the will. Can anyone shed on any light on this. Thankyou

Mojisola

Tallyboo wrote: »

Hello, I wonder if anyone else has had a similar surprise. My mother has recently passed and left my sister and myself beneficieries of her house. We had agreed between us that I would buy my sisters half and move into the property. However, our sister died 20 years ago, her husband had since remarried twice over. We have been advised that he is entitled to a third of the estate although only myself and my sister are named on the will. Can anyone shed on any light on this.

Who has told you this? A solicitor? The executors?

gardner1

I would have thought if your not named on the will you get nothing......but that's only what I think

Yorkshireman99

Tallyboo wrote: »

Hello, I wonder if anyone else has had a similar surprise. My mother has recently passed and left my sister and myself beneficieries of her house. We had agreed between us that I would buy my sisters half and move into the property. However, our sister died 20 years ago, her husband had since remarried twice over. We have been advised that he is entitled to a third of the estate although only myself and my sister are named on the will. Can anyone shed on any light on this. Thankyou

Exactly what does the will say?

getmore4less

It sounds like there may be more siblings than 2 is there another brother or sister alive or dead?

The will needs to be read carefully as that will determine if the sisters share became
a share that goes to her issue(section 33).
Becomes yours
Falls into the residual estate(which may have named list).
Becomes partially intestate.

Keep_pedalling

Did you late sister have any children?

PasturesNew

If only you and your sister are named in the will that is the end of it.

There is no claim to be had. If your deceased sister had been mentioned, then the Will should also say what happens to "her 1/3rd" if she died before your mother.

But if there's a valid Will naming just you and your sister then that's it, job done, game over. Halves.

The ex husband, thrice remarried, gets nowt.

securityguy

"We have been advised that he is entitled to a third of the estate"

In normal cases (a normal will, drawn up normally) that's untrue: there is no general right of widow/ers to take over bequests to their deceased spouse. There are circumstances under which the _children_ (and I think grandchildren) of deceased beneficiaries have rights to legacies, but not spouses or siblings.

A will can specify the fate of legacies which fail due to the death of the beneficiary, but normally they fail and fall into the residue.

nom_de_plume

Unless the will has any specific clauses that says otherwise, the OP and her surviving sister (assuming there were 3 sisters at time the will was written) would inherit the house, half each. Third sister's ex would not be entitled to anything. The exception would be if the OP's sister has surviving children (own or adopted) then they would automatically be entitled to receive her third share or if the will mentioned the ex as an alternative beneficiary to the late sister.

http://www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk/resources/articles/gareth-jones---wills---pre-decease-of-beneficiary

Pollycat

securityguy wrote: »

"We have been advised that he is entitled to a third of the estate"

In normal cases (a normal will, drawn up normally) that's untrue: there is no general right of widow/ers to take over bequests to their deceased spouse. There are circumstances under which the _children_ (and I think grandchildren) of deceased beneficiaries have rights to legacies, but not spouses or siblings.

A will can specify the fate of legacies which fail due to the death of the beneficiary, but normally they fail and fall into the residue.

I'd have thought this ^^^ would apply.

But - would the date the will was made and the date the OP's sister died have any relevance?

i.e. if the sister died before the will was made, it would be obvious that she wouldn't be named in the will.
And if the deceased sister had children and the OP's Mum wanted to include them in her will, she would have done so.....?

It will be interesting to know who advised the OP that the brother-in-law is entitled to a third of the estate.

getmore4less

The 1/3 suggests there is another sibling.