Can siblings contest my will?

Yorkshireman99

This is an urban myth. As has been noted the best way is to discuss it with your solicitor and ask him to store an informal letter signed and dated with your will explaining your reasons. That way if anyone does challenge it the idle wiil see the letter and the solicitor will have it in his notes.

Pollycat

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

That is effectively what the Illot case was about.

Was it?
I thought the Mother didn't agree with her daughter's choice of partner so disinherited her at a young age and never changed her mind.
I didn't think the Mother and daughter had any contact at all for many years.
I may have misread your reply to Mojisola.

Yorkshireman99

Pollycat wrote: »

Was it?
I thought the Mother didn't agree with her daughter's choice of partner so disinherited her at a young age and never changed her mind.
I didn't think the Mother and daughter had any contact at all for many years.
I may have misread your reply to Mojisola.

It is not as simple as that. You really need to read the supreme court judgement.

https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2015-0203.html

Nicki

Also take advice about what to put in the letter. Personally I’d be wary about leaving a letter saying you’d given them money whilst alive - one of the grounds on which a will can be challenged in UK is for failure to make provision for someone you’d financially supported during your lifetime so you might need to be careful about how that aspect of the letter is worded.

Pollycat

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

It is not as simple as that. You really need to read the supreme court judgement.

https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2015-0203.html

Well, I've read this - which is nothing like the scenario Mojisola mentioned:

The testator, Mrs Jackson, was widowed after only four years of marriage and when expecting her only child, a daughter, now Mrs Ilott. In 1978, when Mrs Ilott was 17, she left home secretly to live with her boyfriend, of whom Mrs Jackson did not approve. There followed a lifelong estrangement between mother and daughter which lasted 26 years until the former’s death in 2004 at the age of 70. Mrs Ilott married the man she left home to live with, without telling her mother at the time, although the latter learned of it afterwards. They are still together, and have had five children. They have lived their entire married lives independent of any financial connection whatever with Mrs Jackson, and for much the greatest part of that time in complete isolation from her.

It's OK.
I'm not really interested in getting into a discussion about an old case so I'll leave it there and apologise to the OP for taking the thread off-topic.

Keep_pedalling

Pollycat wrote: »

Was it?
I thought the Mother didn't agree with her daughter's choice of partner so disinherited her at a young age and never changed her mind.
I didn't think the Mother and daughter had any contact at all for many years.
I may have misread your reply to Mojisola.

The mother was a terrible woman, who would not forgive her daughter for her decision to set up with a man of her choice at 17, 37 years later this man was still her partner and it would seem the mother left everything she had to 3 charities she had no previous connection with out of spite.

A complicating factor was that Illot’s father was killed in an industrial accident 2 months before she was born, and most of her mother’s estate had derived from her father, who it is said would be turning in his grave at what his wife had done.

It’s rather sad to think this bitter and twisted woman cut off not only her own daughter but also her only grandchildren from any financial or emotional support, and could hold a grudge for so long.

Pollycat

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

The mother was a terrible woman, who would not forgive her daughter for her decision to set up with a man of her choice at 17, 37 years later this man was still her partner and it would seem the mother left everything she had to 3 charities she had no previous connection with out of spite.

A complicating factor was that Illot’s father was killed in an industrial accident 2 months before she was born, and most of her mother’s estate had derived from her father, who it is said would be turning in his grave at what his wife had done.

It’s rather sad to think this bitter and twisted woman cut off not only her own daughter but also her only grandchildren from any financial or emotional support, and could hold a grudge for so long.

I'm not disputing any of this ^^^^.
I was simply saying that it doesn't seem in any way like the scenario outlined by Mojisola:

Mojisola wrote: »

Some of the cases that have made the news are because parents promised an inheritance to a child who then worked for practically nothing for years, thinking that they were building up their own future, only to find the parent had left the result of all their work to someone else.

I would contest a will that did that to me.

From everything I've read, the daughter was never promised anything by her Mother and didn't do anything practical for her Mother.

Flugelhorn

I think that there was another case where child was promised much and got nothing despite working for the business etc - Sam James, Pennymore Farm was one

zagubov

I in no way would want to dissuade you from leaving your inheritance to the SSPCA or whatever, are there no human charities you'd consider as well? Heart disease, cancer, etc?
You did say you wanted to help others....

iammumtoone

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

would seem the mother left everything she had to 3 charities she had no previous connection with out of spite.
.

I remember this bit of the case.


OP do you currently give regularly to the charities you wish to support in your will? If not I would start doing this now to take out any suggestion in future you are doing it out of spite.