Will after divorce and other questions

virtualme

My Father passed away suddenly and unexpectedly last week and would be really I be grateful for any advise.

I have a copy of his (very brief) will, which leaves everything to his Wife (my Mother), or in the event of her dying before him, 1/3 each to me and my Brother and 1/6 to each of my two young children. My Mother and I are named as executors.

Since the signing of the will he has divorced my Mother, although they remained on good terms. My understanding is that the a divorced spouse is treated as though they have died and are no longer able to act as executor or inherit. Therefore I am the sole executor and the estate should be split as in the event of her dying before him. Is this correct?

If my Brother, Mother and I agree are we able to change the distribution of the estate, so that my Mother receives a share? I believe this is what my Father would have wanted, but I don't know if we are allowed to do this?

Finally, I have looked through his paperwork and estimate that his estate is worth only around £10,000, even less after a few small bills and the funeral have been paid for. It is all cash savings and an old car, no property, shares or valuables. With an estate this small would I necessarily need to apply for administration and/or probate, provided the bank doesn't require it?

Sorry for so many questions!

Keep_pedalling

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

Divorce does not invalidate the will nor does it prevent the ex wife being executor or inheriting under the will. The executors cannot change the will but the beneficiaries can, if they wish, do so after thedistribution has taken place by paying who ever they chose. Unless a bank requires probate then you don't need it.

As everyone seems to be on good terms and are in agreement on how to distribute the estate this can also be done through a deed of variation, but as the estate is small and inheritance tax is not an issue do as YM99 suggests above it is the simplest solution.

Savvy_Sue

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

Divorce does not invalidate the will nor does it prevent the ex wife being executor or inheriting under the will. The executors cannot change the will but the beneficiaries can, if they wish, do so after thedistribution has taken place by paying who ever they chose. Unless a bank requires probate then you don't need it.

Actually my quick googling indicates that divorce does prevent inheritance: the former spouse is treated as if they died on the date of the decree absolute, and one source said they couldn't act as executor either, which makes sense ...

There is a 26 page gov.uk document here which I confess I haven't read.

But small estate, everyone on good terms, probably not a problem. If you do have to go to probate, I'd ask the probate office for advice before paying for any.

Yorkshireman99

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Actually my quick googling indicates that divorce does prevent inheritance: the former spouse is treated as if they died on the date of the decree absolute, and one source said they couldn't act as executor either, which makes sense ...

There is a 26 page gov.uk document here which I confess I haven't read.

But small estate, everyone on good terms, probably not a problem. If you do have to go to probate, I'd ask the probate office for advice before paying for any.

I just checked and you are correct. Mea culpa! My previous post deleted.

Savvy_Sue

To be fair, I only googled it because I thought divorce DID invalidate a will, but what I found was that it only affects the former partner.

Keep_pedalling

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

I just checked and you are correct. Mea culpa! My previous post deleted.

Although if the deceased lived in Scotland the will would be unaffected.

Tom99

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]If your children are under 18 you cannot reduce their 1/6th even with a deed of variation.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]You and your brother can do whatever you like with your share.[/FONT]

virtualme

Thank you for all the helpful responses. This has confirmed what I though, which is really reassuring.

Yorkshireman99

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

To be fair, I only googled it because I thought divorce DID invalidate a will, but what I found was that it only affects the former partner.

I was discussing this with a friend this morning. What I am not sure of is if this restriction only applies to a will made before a divorce. I always understod that and English tesataor was free to leave their estate to whoever they wished. If any one can point me to a definitive answer I would be grateful.

buildersdaughter

I hesitate to get involved in legalities, but for general discussion, I suspect that the difference may be in the exact wording of the will.
"I leave all my property to Mr. Rupert Bear" is not the same as "I leave all my property to my husband Mr. Rupert Bear"

Savvy_Sue

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

I was discussing this with a friend this morning. What I am not sure of is if this restriction only applies to a will made before a divorce. I always understod that and English tesataor was free to leave their estate to whoever they wished. If any one can point me to a definitive answer I would be grateful.

I'm not sure what you mean: if in a moment of madness I divorced my DH, then my understanding is that my current will would read as if he'd pre-deceased me, so everything would go to our boys, and one or more of them would have to step up and execute it.

However, if in that MoM I divorced him, and THEN made a new will in which I left him the lot (again), and named him and described him as my EX husband, I think that would be acceptable - however IANAL so that's not the confirmation you're looking for ... but am I understanding you correctly?

buildersdaughter wrote: »

I hesitate to get involved in legalities, but for general discussion, I suspect that the difference may be in the exact wording of the will.
"I leave all my property to Mr. Rupert Bear" is not the same as "I leave all my property to my husband Mr. Rupert Bear"

Agree, but I THINK that if after writing the will you divorced Mr RB, it wouldn't matter how you identified him. So if you want Mr RB to inherit after you've divorced him, I think you'd need to identify him both by name and as your EX husband.

This is my logical reasoning. Why I think that would have anything to do with the legal niceties I have no idea.